BELLEFONTE — The Centre County Board of Commissioners approved a $12 million contract Tuesday for long-discussed upgrades to the county’s emergency communications system.

Officials said the redesign will drastically improve coverage in Centre County, in part through the addition of tower sites.

For years, the county discussed upgrading its communications system from analog to digital. On Tuesday, the commissioners unanimously approved a $12.43 million contract with Motorola Solutions to do that.

“Throughout the discussions, our focus was always on how this will better the way our first responders communicate with each other,” said Commissioner Michael Pipe. “That has always been front and center. This is going to be a system that will serve them well.”

The project is expected to take between 20 months and two years to complete.

Commissioners said the deal they approved Tuesday provides a better system, at a lower cost, than options previously discussed with Motorola.

“If you look at some of the numbers that were talked about a year ago, there are significant savings,” said Commissioner Chris Exarchos.

Previous estimates for upgrades ranged from $20 million to $28 million.

Steve Dershem, chairman of the commissioners, said the county still faces future costs, such as upgrades to tower sites.

But even with the additional work, he said the entire project should cost “significantly less” than the initial projections.

Penn State will share some upfront expenses and some maintenance responsibilities by agreeing to join the county’s new system.

Under the agreement, Penn State will continue to operate its own emergency center and dispatch its own calls, but will now be on the county’s emergency communications system.

In exchange, the university will pay the county $2 million upfront and another $2 million when the project is completed. Penn State will also cover 20 percent of annual maintenance and support costs.

Dan Tancibok, director of the county’s Emergency Communications Office, said the partnership is a natural fit. The two centers already back each other up when either has technical difficulties.

“Certainly at Beaver Stadium on six or seven or eight Saturdays a year we believe strongly in having that capability,” said Steve Shelow, assistant vice president of public safety at Penn State. “We believe having that opportunity to communicate across police, fire and EMS ... is extraordinarily important.”

John Caulfield, of Motorola, told commissioners Tuesday the upgrades will greatly increase the reach of the county’s system.

“It’s leap years ahead of what the communication system is right now, and positions the county for future technologies as well,” he said.

Currently, the system transmits from five tower sites. That number will jump to 17 through the new plan, Caulfield said.

Tancibok said the county will not build any new sites. Instead it will lease space on existing towers.
The county will have to replace one tower, and is looking for partners to share the costs, he said.

The deal has been years in the making, according to Larry Bickford, of Mission Critical Partners Inc., of State College.

The commissioners hired Mission Critical as a consultant for $150,000 in January to help look at options for the upgrades.

That move came about four years after the county received a report from another company, L. Robert Kimball and Associates, on the system.

That company, in 2008, made recommendations with a price tag ranging from $20 million to $28 million.

Bickford said Motorola made an unsolicited proposal in 2010 for system upgrades based on the previous recommendations.

Weekly meetings with Motorola have been taking place since Mission Critical was hired, Bickford said.

“This has been a long, convoluted process,” Dershem said. “The most important thing is that at the end of this conversation we have an emergency communications system that will not only work now, but will be upgradeable and useful for many years to come.”

In February, the commissioners borrowed $15 million to fund improvements to the system.
In May, they approved $132,480 contract with Schrader Group Architecture, of Philadelphia, for design and construction of the county’s new 911 call center.

The new center will be housed on the ground floor of the Willowbank Building. To provide that space, the county’s Office of Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities and Drug and Alcohol will move to the former Corning plant in College Township.

Matt Carroll can be reached at 231-4631. Follow him on Twitter @Carrollreporter