Highland County 911 upgrades, new MARCS tower discussed at Highland County commissioners meeting

In separate appointments Wednesday, April 12, Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades discussed emergency communications, as they heard updates on the county’s 911 system and brainstormed plans for a new MARCS tower.

Highland County 911 Coordinator Scott Miller and Highland County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Brandon Stratton attended the 9 a.m. meeting in recognition of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

During their regular approvals at the beginning of the meeting, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a quote from Intrado to allow the county to “move forward with text-to-911 capabilities,” according to Miller.

The contract is a five-year plan with a one-time setup fee of $3,725 and an annual cost of $16,500, Britton and Miller said.

“It's something that the state is going to require with the next-gen development that they've got,” Miller said. “I would hope that in five years, the state will be ready to go online with their next-gen.

“The governor put in the budget to hopefully get that where it would be free to all of the counties if we hook into the state system. I don’t know that we would need to continue with Intrado at that point or not.”

Miller said that setting up the system will take approximately six to eight months.

Britton asked if the costs will be covered out of the 911 fund. “It can come out of the wireless money we've received from the state,” Miller said.

Later in the meeting, Miller said that in honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, he wanted to give commissioners an update on 911 statistics and technology upgrades.

Miller said that the county has been “100-percent compliant” on every audit they’ve submitted to the state’s 911 department, dating back to 2018. According to Miller, the audits include assessments of staffing levels, training standards, continuing education, emergency power supply, software, basic statistics on calls and call ring times and answer times.

“We took 37,232 calls for service last year,” Miller said. “That's not counting how many times the phone has rang. We're working with the recorder company to see if we can actually get a count how many times our phone rings that we answer.

“[We had] 17,344 911 calls last year. Even for this year, everything's progressively still going up. We dispatched 8,740 fire and EMS calls last year, which is the highest we've ever done since we started central dispatch for fire and EMS.”

The statistics also included dispatchers completing “493 hours of training last year at a cost of $6,181,” Miller said, maintaining “100-percent compliance with state rules and regulations that we have to follow.”
   
Miller also logged into some of the 911 software systems for a demonstration of how the latest technology works.

“I wanted to show you a couple of the programs you guys purchased for us to help us with our job,” Miller said.

The first, called Rapid SOS, is described as “an intelligent safety platform [that] securely links life-saving data from connected devices, apps and sensors to RapidSOS safety agents, 911 and first responders globally,” according to rapidsos.com.

“If we get a 911 call, we get an alert that will go off, and it'll ping where the call is coming from in the county,” Miller said.

To demonstrate its accuracy, Daniels made a brief 911 call, and the county map on the Rapid SOS system had a box pop up with Daniels’ number. As Stratton pointed out, the call information came up “before you heard the first ring” from Daniels’ phone, and Miller said they had about “90-percent accuracy from a cell tower” regarding the call location.

Along with Daniels’ number, it had map coordinates included, with the map pointing to the same block, although not the administration building specifically.

“There are some alarm companies that are tied into this, and we'll get an alert to the burglar alarm or fire alarm that’s going off five minutes before they even call us,” Miller said.

He added that although the county does not have text to 911 capabilities yet, when someone tries, it pops up in a different box as an alert.

“A lot of counties use this more than they use their 911 system,” Miller said. “Clermont County Comm Center sent me some policies on how they use this. Their officers wear Axon body cams, and their GPS is into the rapid SOS, so they track their deputies through that. We're using our CAD system to track the patrol cars, but this can actually physically track the deputies.”

Also demonstrated was the APCO IntelliComm system, a “a cognitive, criteria-based guidecard system designed for the 21st-century public safety telecommunicator,” according to https://apcointellicomm.org/.

“This is the software we use to EMD [emergency medical dispatch] our 911 calls,” Miller said. “We also were able to get the law enforcement and fire run cards put into this system as well.

“We're still learning it. It's quite different than what we were used to.”

The system uses a form to help dispatchers assess the emergency and provide guidance to the caller. For an example, Miller showed the yes/no questions the dispatcher would ask the caller if they are reporting an individual having trouble breathing, which eventually guides the dispatcher into providing CPR instructions. The system even includes a metronome to assist with counting compressions.

“We have also have [instructions for] childbirth, obstructed airway, the emergency response guide for hazardous chemicals and AED instructions, if there's an AED there,” Miller said. “We have other medications and stuff that we can access to provide other safety tips.”

Miller thanked commissioners and the sheriff’s office for their support and allowing them to purchase these systems.

“It helps make our job a lot easier,” Miller said. “We’ve got a great group of people. We don't always tell people what they want to hear, but we’ve got a great group of people and a very stable group of people that been there for quite a long time.”

Commissioners thanked Miller for the update and “for all you’re doing,” Daniels said.

• • •

An hour later, commissioners held a separate meeting with Ohio MARCS Field Operations Manager Dick Miller (not to be confused with Scott Miller) and Highland County Emergency Management Agency Director David Bushelman to discuss the placement of a new MARCS tower.

Then-State Rep. Shane Wilkin announced in June 2022 that “the state’s new construction budget includes $750,000 to improve radio communication for law enforcement and first responders in Highland County” with the construction of the new MARCS tower.

As previously reported, commissioners held a work session Jan. 9 with Marshall Township Trustees to discuss a proposal to place the tower on township-owned property. According to Britton, the commission asked the township trustees “to donate the property” for the project, and the county gave the trustees a month to make a decision. In February, commissioners said Marshall Township rejected that offer.

As noted by Britton in January, they are looking to construct the tower somewhere on the “southeast side of the county,” where radio coverage is lacking. They are trying to find a township-owned property in another township, he said in February

According to Bushelman, the tower will be 300 feet tall, and the county needs a 100 foot by 100 foot space.

“That'll house the tower, the backup generator, the propane tank for the generator and then a little building to house all the radio electronics for the tower,” Bushelman said in February.

Britton reported Wednesday that they had identified a landowner in Marshall Township who might be willing to enter a lease agreement, but “the best option we have right now with township-owned ground is in Concord Township” instead. He asked what the difference in coverage would be.

“Concord will help fill in,” Bushelman said. “It’ll pick up some of that down toward Marshall. It’ll help fill in a lot of the holes over around Mowrystown.

“But Marshall would be the best.”

Daniels asked what the difference in coverage would be for the currently “uncovered areas,” comparing the two townships. Bushelman said the difference would be “40 to 50 percent.”

“So it’s significant, significant,” Daniels said.

Miller also said that the elevations in the Marshall area would help them “get the biggest bang for your buck” in terms of coverage.

“If it's better for the county, then maybe that's the way we should go,” Britton said.

Britton said if that’s the case, then they are going to have to come up with a plan to “lease or buy ground” in the Marshall area. Daniels asked Miller if that was an option, and he responded that it is, but it is less “cost effective.”

“We're in the process right now of renewing leases across the state, and we've seen a significant rise in the price of those leases from when we originally got them 20 years ago,” Miller said.

Miller said the lease is done through the state, and that other state agencies, such as the Department of Transportation or Department of Natural Resources, have been “fantastic partners” in some areas for leasing a small piece of land for the towers.

In response to questions from Britton, Miller said the state pays the lease and handles the negotiations through the Department of Administrative Services’ real estate division. Britton also asked about the length of the leases.

“We started MARCS in the early 2000s, and most of the leases after that were 20-year leases, so they're all coming due now,” Miller said. “The tower business has significantly changed in the last 20 years. Back in 2000, we didn't all have cell phones and we weren’t looking at towers everywhere.

“Those leases have changed, and like I said, what we're seeing is —  and that's why we would like to stay away from a lease — is because of the fact that we see significant increases in those leases. But we'd want at least 20, 25, 30 years, if we had to do it today.”

In response, Britton asked if “an abandoned cell tower” could be used. Miller said they “could look at it,” but there are strict standards that must be met.

“If it's an older abandoned cell tower, and you know who owns the land, could we do something called a drop and swap?” Miller said. “Could we take down an old cell tower and put a new 330 foot-tower up there? I don't know.”

Miller also told Daniels that they allow other “partnerships,” such as for broadband expansion, that allows other companies to attach to the MARCS towers.

“If we’re going to do that, we want to plan on that early [to] design, engineer and build the tower to withhold those extra loads,” he said.

Miller had questions for commissioners as well, asking if they had already received the funding for the project.

“We have been awarded the money,” Britton said. “We haven't got any money yet.”

Daniels added that they had been waiting to finalize plans for the tower’s location.

“We can draw the funds when you’re ready,” Miller said. “Tower costs have gone through the roof, just like everything else.”

Miller added that receiving the funds from the state Controlling Board is “probably a two- to three-month process.”

Britton reviewed their cost estimates for the project, which he said is targeted at $1.28 million, including $60,000 for engineering, $600,000 for the tower, $220,000 for the shelter and $400,000 for radio/control/antenna. Miller said the estimates seem on par with costs “for today.”

“There’s $530,000 that we’ve got to come up with,” Britton said.

Britton added that they would give the prospective landowner’s contact information to Miller so the state can start pursuing a possible lease agreement.

“We've done some checking on elevations, and they are close, if not higher, than the Marshall site that we were trying to do,” Britton said. “We just want to try to see if this was going to work.

“If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to go to plan B.”