OCEAN CITY — With its current 23-year-old system reaching the end of its practical life, Ocean City officials this week approved moving forward with plans to purchase a state-of-the-art, stand-alone radio system for its emergency services personnel.
Ocean City Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald came before the Mayor and Council this week seeking permission to begin negotiating with private contractors to replace the town’s aging analog EDACS 800MHz radio system with a new state-of-the-art digital P25 system. The current radio system, utilized by the police, fire and emergency services departments, along with other departments within the resort, is 23 years old and is reaching the end of its useful life.
Theobald explained the Harris Corporation, contracted to provide the town’s radios, is no longer servicing the system nor is it offering replacement radios and parts. While the current system continues to work flawlessly, Ocean City is faced with several options, including sticking with the current system and gobbling up as many replacement radios and parts as it can, or begin exploring a new digital alternative to replace the decades-old system.
In anticipation of the end of life for the current system, Theobald and Emergency Services Electronic Services Manager Bob Dimaio have spent the last three years researching the options and reviewing the alternatives and made several recommendations to the Mayor and Council on Tuesday.
One option presented is simply doing nothing and continuing to operate with the current system, while another would be a bulk purchase of new radios and becoming a user on the statewide Maryland 700MHz FIRST system.
Other more attractive alternatives include purchasing the stand-alone emergency radio system that would interface with Worcester County Emergency Services and others throughout the region and across the state.
After reviewing Theobald’s comprehensive power-point presentation outlining all of the alternatives, the council voted unanimously to allow staff to begin negotiating with Eastern Communications on a contract to implement a new Harris P25 digital radio system. Eastern Communications is the sole provider in the region for the Harris P25 system. Last summer, Worcester County contracted with Harris to replace its aging 800MHz system with the Harris P25 system and the county’s system would be interoperable with Ocean City’s new system.
Theobald explained the current system is working well, but with Harris discontinuing its services and parts distribution, the time has come to begin negotiations for a new contract for the P25 system.
“The clock is ticking,” he said. “The system is working today with no issues, but it’s 23 years old and it’s time we began working on an upgrade. We’re seeking your permission to move forward with negotiating a new contract.”
While it is too early to predict the cost of the design and upgrade of the town’s emergency radio system, Theobald explained it would be largely financed with a 10-year capital lease purchase with the first payment of the lease not due until fiscal year 2017. Theobald said the Harris P25 digital system technology is state-of-the-art and would meet Ocean City’s highest standards of interoperability with Worcester County and other systems throughout the region, while providing the resort with its own stand-alone system.
“We talked about the pros and cons and it’s apparent having our own free-standing system is the best interest of the town,” said Councilman Wayne Hartman.
Councilmember Mary Knight also agreed Ocean City should have a stand-alone system.
“When looking at redundancy, it’s so much better to be in charge of your own system and not be on a shared system,” she said.
