Yeah, wonderful. >> Westwood. >> Good evening, folks. We are the capital expenditure committee. Today is December 17th. It's 5:30. We're in conference room number two. Present is Nicole Parker, Doug Mglin, Joseph Dei, Alita Di Maria, Carl Steinhart, Russell Fox, and
welcome Mr. Peron. This is your first hopefully not last. No. Not on the agenda tonight. Um is the request for $220,000 to complete the new public safety radio system. Chief, how are you this evening, man? >> I'm good. How are you, Chie?
>> Okay. All right. Sell your soul to us, please. >> Certainly. So, um, Mike Gerard obviously is our radio consultant. He's been working this project from the beginning. And >> you've been with the town, Michael. You've been around a long time. >> Yeah.
>> A small uh absence, but Okay. >> But, um, we initially knew the town needed a new radio system. So, um, several years ago, prior to us moving to Westwood Regional Dispatch, um, there were ballpark estimates, we'll call
them, of nearly $2 million for to accomplish the the radio system and design it. And and those were some of the the early quotes um, from I believe Gootown was one of a Motorola directly, NorCom. Um, but when we joined the regional dispatch center, um, it opened
up a whole world of grants for us. So Nina Bar, the director of Wester Regional Dispatch, um is a very good and very successful grant writer and she was able to get um both incentive grants and development grants um to offset the cost of the radio system. So uh currently uh
we're looking at a total cost of about 1.6 so $1,695,000 roughly. Um we've gotten close to 1.4 million in grants through the state 91 system part of the operational system. and Mike can explain this better than I
can. Um that fell short in that and there's a just a little bit of a gap. Um is what's referred to as the back hall and if you would that's kind of the system that synchronizes everything and gets it all working. Um initially the incentive grants and the development grants would have covered the cost of
everything, but we ended up having to do some additional work at one of the sites. So, I'll let Mike take it from there and kind of explain what that what it looked like in the beginning, what the progression was and where we're at right now and why we need the additional uh funding.
>> Okay. Would you like me to take it from the top or? >> Yeah, honestly for everyone listening at home. >> Okay. >> I think everyone needs a real education of of how we got here. Thank you. >> So, like you mentioned, I've been with the town for quite a while and the radio system has struggled probably my whole
time here. Um, one of our critical points of failure is the wire lines that link our receive sites that are positioned all over the town to um, back to the radio system. And those on a regular basis fail. They're old copper
lines. They're based off of old telephone technology that used to come into our homes. Um, Verizon has pretty much at this point stopped servicing them and actually sent us notices just a month ago saying that's it in February. They're done. They're getting out of the
copper wire business. So, >> and those are the voting receivers at Charles Johnson, um, Kagamon. >> Yep. Where's the other one, Chief? >> 57. 57. So, those those are the three units that used to be hard wired by them. >> And then we have, uh, one we added when
I came here, um, up in Sodom Mountain. >> Okay. >> Um, but all those depend on those wire lines. So um aside from the radio project, we are already headed down a road of of uh you know [clears throat] losing that. So basically what that would do is only the antenna in the
center of town would work which will not cover on portable um townwide. So when I got here we uh we started the radio project off um with the grant money. We received an
initial grant commitment from state 911. we went out to bid, Moroa was the winning contractor. Um, in their design phase, they found that they could not link um the sites wirelessly and that was and wirelessly is what we're looking
for is to get away from that wline situation. Examples of numerous examples of problems with the W line is, you know, a car crash takes out a light pole, we lost the southern end receiver. That's where our emergency personnel are going. So, not only are they dealing
with that emergency that caused the outage of the radio system, the radio system is not working there for them. So, across the board, across the nation, public safety has drifted away from wire line and gone wireless links. Um, and they refer them to microwave back haul.
Um, you don't have the issues with icing, taking down your telephone poles and your telephone lines, accidents, um, and stuff like that. Um, they they really resilient to storm damage. um they were crucial in Springfield's um
uh response to the tornado because they didn't lose their radio system because it was all linked wirelessly. There's poles and power lines and everything down all over the place, but they were still talking and they were getting to responders where they needed. So, those are just a small amount of examples of
why wireless back call is very important in public safety radio systems. Um so, back to where we we came back from design phase, they couldn't do that. We went back to the drawing board here in Southwick trying to figure out the most cost effective way to get us out of that
rut of um the radio system. We looked at everything from uh the towers using towers at the police and fire department um the tower up at Juniper Road and we kept coming up short. Um, we could get to some of our sites, but we have a very
large ridge between us and Westfield and there was some slight uh interference to the south of us trying to get into the Congam road site. Um, so at that point we went back to the state. We were awarded another grant of 400 just shy of
$400,000 to build a tower tall enough at Juniper Road to reach all of our sites and achieve that goal. Um, so we started with that actually just finalized that contract. Um, and we're hoping to get going on that very shortly here. Um,
bringing us to that point. Um, we still had the unresolved issue in the back haul. Um, we tried to incorporate that with the new tower project, but the cost came in um, double of what we had available in the grant. was just shy of
about about $700,000 total to build the tower and provide the back haul. So, Westfield um you know, they were great through this, great partners. They ponyied up to $67,000. We were short to get the tower project uh awarded and over the finish line, but we still have
this $220 that we need to purchase the uh microwave back haul. And that's why we came here tonight is, you know, we just need this help to get this project all the way through. We've done everything we have on our our side of the street to try to minimize
the cost to the taxpayers. You know, we we when we were short at funding for Cong, we went back, we looked at the grant or I'm sorry, the bid. We found areas where us ourselves [clears throat] could do some of the work and we generated $67,000
to bring um to eliminate that additional cost and bring that site online and get all the civil work done there. And that's pretty much about the summary of uh where >> physically this equipment is going to be at Juniper Road or is it going to be or is it going to be an outlying areas like
the voting receiver? >> It's actually going to link all of the sites. So Juniper Road will be what we call the hub. So all of these sites will come back to Juniper Road. So that'll be the Congaman Road cell tower. Um the Westfield Waterworks Tower in Granville will shoot back there.
um police and fire headquarters will have a small hop and then there'll be one um by way of path it'll come out of uh Juniper up to Westfield Waterworks and then down to Westfield Dispatch and that'll be uh make sure they can connect with us
>> and that'll capture all the coverage areas that are needed so there's no dead spots on the west side of Septile. >> Yeah, exactly. So without this um the new radar system is what they call a siminalcast system. Um and to ensure that coverage on the southern end of town um both sites the central site
they're call juniper and the south site Kongaman road transmit at the same time. So when you're in that house or you're in that basement in the southern end of town you're hearing that transmission and then because you're talking to that local site they're hearing it on the other end of town. But without that back
haul, these these sites can't talk. Um, so this is basically the lifeline to link them together. >> The studies have been done, the coverage maps have been provided and it's definitely the system that we want and that we need, right? Um, ju just to
reinforce the Verizon problem, right? We thought we'd have a little bit more time with them. Um, we called in a little bit of a panic and they said, "Well, maybe April will be when we really, really stop servicing. it's end of service life and they said but public safety will probably go a little longer but they
said January 2027 that's it. It's done with. So that unfortunately then said we need to move this part of the project forward. We have to do this because we're not going to our system won't even be supported and we they couldn't even tell us if it will even work after
January of 2027. So we said okay we we knew we already had a large portion of the project underway. Um, Westfield Regional has been great to work with as well as the city of Westfield who have supported, as Mike said, the the structure. So, that was a $67,000 outlay
from them to provide a used structure so that we have a place to house the equipment. We were able to reuse and purchase equipment that was at the Congam site. So, Mike's been working really hard to try to get this in line um both financially and functionally.
And it's taken some time. It's created a lot of headaches for Mike. I know it has. And you know, fortunately, we have somebody like Mike to take care of all this. So, we're one ahead there. You know, this is a radio system for the future and it is going to provide us in
public safety the frequency coverage that we need, the radio coverage that we need, the wattage that we need. Offshot to this is the radio system that's already in place right now, our portables, excuse me, our two-way radios that are inside our vehicles are going to be repurposed for DPW. So DPW is
using some outdated equipment right now and pretty much their cell phone in it when they talk to each other. So these radios will then be reinstalled in the DPW trucks. They'll be using mobile radios. They don't rely on the portables like the police and fire do. A big part of this radio system that we need is for
the portable radios which we use every day on every single call. When you're in a truck, it's a more high-powered radio. It has a bigger antenna so it can reach that one destination. So it doesn't need to be elaborate system that Mike had to design, you know, with the radio people to make this function as a successful,
very strong and very reliable system. Near new inventory of those radio equipment in all of the vehicles, police and fire is commensurate with the number of vehicles we have because we have had a growth in the number of vehicles >> that have different purposes. Yes. And
during a big emergency, you're going to be re you're going to be using every vehicle. So, will every single vehicle have the most modern radios in it? >> The fire department does, and I can't answer that about DVW because I don't know what they have for numbers. >> But there's 16 radios going down there.
>> As far as I know, our fleets covered as well. If we add any cars, we'll buy radios available on time. Okay. >> Yeah. And again, some of this was a demand from the FCC saying that you need to go to P25 digital compatible. And so, that's been kind of in the works. We knew a while ago, probably when I first
started. that a radio system replacement was going to be necessary in South Pole. >> So we've by joining the regional dispatch center, you've opened up a lot of opportunity for grant funding. So things would partly and that was part of the cost benefit of regionalizing.
>> Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. >> Um you said Motorola chief got we'll get the contract. >> So parts of it are so Motorola is providing the infrastructure. >> Okay. the uh the radio subscriber that
handheld radios that users have in the field which we've already taken delivery of and kind of rolled out pretty much 98% of the is out. >> Question was how if if we're up against a deadline how how long would this last for the full roll out of the
infrastructure to get us compliant before it's shut off? >> Um so the the motor roll is ready to install. This stuff is sitting in Nagata, Connecticut >> ready to come here. Um no delay like on fire trucks we got to wait a year and yeah exactly
>> and they're ready to start when this is approved or they're slotted we will be slotted for this so that everything would be turned on tested and fully functional before anything is shut off. >> Yes, exactly. So, we're planning to run the legacy system side by side until
we're [clears throat] 100% comfortable that we can cut over um the uh and everything is ready to go except obviously the Juniper Tower. Um it's we're in the early phases of that. We just sealed that contract with
Westfield and Green Mountain Communications. >> Um we actually have our first kickoff site walk tomorrow, tomorrow morning. um they understand the time of the essence. Now, we are up against a couple clocks. We are up against Verizon's clock um for
losing the back wall. We're up against the grant clock because state 911 has extended this because of the roadblocks we've had and they've been great great to work with. But at the same point, the state is in a tough position financially. So, they're taking a really strong look at some of these projects
that they've committed to saying, "Hey, you know, where are you at? Why is it taking so long?" Um we've had very good um u conversations with them going for these extensions. They've been great, but I don't want to test their patience.
Um but yeah, so as soon as we get Juniper built, um they will install Condamon Road was finished um late October, I think. >> Yeah, it was right around just after the Big E. Um electric's on that. The shelter has been rehabbed and powered.
It's ready for install. uh Soda Mountain is ready for install. So basically, uh Juniper and this back hall and we would like to do it at the same time. So if for some reason this didn't happen, they would come put the stuff in. We'd have
all brand new radio equipment, but it's dark. It's it's not going to be able to do anything for us because we can't link them. So having them uh work side by side as they're installing it and hook the microwave at the same time will cost us or save us money because we're not
going to have to call them back if there's connectivity issues and whatnot. We're doing all the work at the same time. We can get those things fixed while they're here. Now the microwave requires sometimes climbers and that can get quite expensive if you have to send somebody up there to align a dish or
whatnot. So doing it all at the same time is cost effective for us. You're not climbing up. [laughter] >> I kind of want to try it, but we're trading. >> Yes. >> And a little bit of uh
trust in my equipment. Who installs the DPW stuff? >> Is that in this? >> So that that's not part of this project here. Um it was something that we started with Randy when Randy was here. Um but we have several people that we use local companies. Yeah. American
Communications which is um Mike works with them quite frequently. Uh fire fight fire fighter captain out of Beltown guy by the name of Robert Rob Vanzant. Um fantastic to work with. He just finished up all the mobile installs in the fire department and in and out in two days. Everything worked beautifully
and you know a real professional job. So he's already you know knows that this project is coming and he's probably the go-to guy. >> How about emergency management? Are they all tied in? No issues with this? Well, that's the benefit of it. Um, right now we can't talk to DPW and aka emergency
management. Um, because they use the DPW channel as their operation 20.56 channel >> and we have that block. Um, so with this project brings all the town departments on one band. I actually we just provisioned all the DP I'm sorry, all the emergency management radios. They
got four portables and two bases and two mobiles um ready to go for them on this. Um, so that'll be the nice thing about it is we'll be able to talk directly to him during storm or >> that was always the problem in the past. >> Yes, we always
that was every Thank you bringing it all together. >> We'd open the EOC and we'd literally sit there and manhandle two radios, take the message in, put it out on this one. So this is just bringing everything all together. >> Right. Thanks. Well, Ian knows about all
this and Ian, the emergency manager. >> Yeah, we've been he's included in the loop. He knows what's happening. >> Chief, any questions? >> I have no questions at all. I I certainly can't go into depth like these two just did, but I mean, from the policing aspect, I've been here almost
30 years now, and when the radios go down, it sucks in English. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. You know, nothing worse than yelling in the radio when nobody's hearing you. So, from our aspect, we need something that works. This, you know, is going to work. It's going to
prevent us from having to go to potential cell phones. Other means running back to the station, whatever whatever the story might be. So, you know, in the grand scheme of things, $220,000 on a special town meeting. That's a big number. We'd hope maybe we could have gone to the to the annual,
but unfortunately Verizon is sort of pulling the carpet out. Yeah, >> we can't we can't wait unfortunately. >> Yeah, understood. >> Questions? >> Yeah, thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I would >> we just vote on the merits of it and the
positioning of it. >> Understood. >> The selectman and the thing figure out where the money comes from. >> Understood. >> That was going to be kind of I probably not really gerine to this. This is an up or down vote on the merits of the project. we were going to bond it or we're going to pay cash for it or we would do you have to figure it out.
>> And you know going back that um >> some of the radio equipment, the P25 compliance, I mean that goes back at least three police chiefs ago. We were asking if the radios you're buying, are those P25 compliant? Right. So there's
got to be a healthy stock of, you know, and with all the other new equipment. So >> transitionwise, I think we'll you guys should be in good shape. Yeah, we're very >> and and you know, I want to commend Mike and and the other public safety chiefs in the room because I know that there's been a lot of work done and and thanks
to regional dispatch um for the work that they've put in the grant writing and grant support for this um going back ahead for you know there's a lot there's a lot of experience in this room but
going back to before we regionalized dispatch patch the radio system was a topic of discussion. We knew that that was coming >> every year. >> Yeah. And you had no choice, right? And we were going to be looking at the
console and all the other >> over 700 that was Yeah. It was a seven figure number all in. So, >> you know what? >> $200,000 is is a lot of money. $220,000 is a lot of money, but compared to what we would be expending for just the radio
system alone. Um, and and the other some of the other savings and benefits we've realized from the regional dispatch. Um, you know, this project is certainly worthwhile and we should, you know, obviously it's going to get a vote here shortly, but you know, I I certainly am in favor of
doing this. >> Thank you. >> You guys really have done You've done a lot. >> Yeah. >> Nothing, >> right? All these years, literally. >> Um Yeah. Thank you for that. >> All right. If there's no other
questions, I will entertain a motion for $220,000 to complete the new public um safety radio system. >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> A motion made second. All those in favor? Joe D. I. >> Alita D Maria I. >> Doug Mlin. Yes.
>> Nicole Parker. Yes. Jason Peron I >> Carl Stein yes >> Fox yes >> thank you >> excellent thank you all very much appreciate it make a motion journ >> second we're going to schedule another boot >> results of this meeting will be
transmitted to the full boards motions dance.