The Warren County Commissioners are moving ahead with its project to modernize the county’s radio system infrastructure with equipment purchased and tower leases now negotiated.

“We have an obligation to the public and our providers who are doing good things out there,” Commissioner Ken Klakamp said.

The $5.2 million emergency radio tower upgrade will include installation of three new towers – one in Sugar Grove, one in Elk and one in Sheffield. County officials have known for some time that it wasn’t finished with its emergency radio tower project. The new project will resolve gaps in emergency communications that exist in areas like Sugar Grove, Scandia and other areas that border New York state. The county’s older tower sites, some of which can be described as “structurally deficient,” are connected by copper lines instead of fiber or microwave. That presents functionality issues whenever it rains.

Three towers are planned for construction through this project, two located on private land near Sugar Grove and Sheffield and a third on federal land in the Scandia area. Lease agreements for tower sites on Bull Hill and in Sugar Grove were approved by the commissioners during its Dec. 17 meeting with private property owners who have indicated their willingness to allow the county to place towers on their land

“Thank you for bringing this forward,” Department of Public Safety Ken McCorrison said during Wednesday’s meeting. “This is a continuation of a project that started in 2018. We’re ready to replace aging radio infrastructure and bring it up to 2025-2026 standards.”

Commissioners also approved three agreements recently, two for the purchase of radio equipment from Motorola for both connectivity on the state P-25 radio system as well as the existing analog system. The third, with Capital Area Communications, secures equipment for microwave connectivity necessary to permit the county’s towers to communicate with each other and with the 911 Center.

“Right now, in our current antiquated system, we connect with phone lines,” McCorrison said. “Every time it rains (or) we have weather changes, we have connectivity issues.”

He described the microwave capacity as a “more modern way to connect our towers.”

“I appreciate you working with getting this radio project further on down the road,” Rich Barrett, president of the Warren County Fire Services, said. “Some of our emergency services are struggling with signal. (This project) should take care of most of the problems we’ve got.”

The Warren County Commissioners have finalized terms on a revenue bond to help pay for a $5.2 million emergency radio tower project in April 2025.

“This is going to cost us a lot less than we originally anticipated,” Commissioner Tricia Durbin added.