The vote by the board of the Western Area Regional Radio System Authority to expand the communication system used by emergency responders in Carroll County into Heard and Haralson counties will save public safety departments on operation expenses and, at the same time, save lives, said Carroll County Fire Chief Gary Thomas.

The expansion came only after the authority moved to replace the existing 150 MHz VHF system in Carroll County with a more powerful 800 MHz system. The proposal for the system was made by the cell phone giant Motorola to the cost of $4.2 million, $32,000 less than a state-sponsored grant awarded conjunctively to Carroll County and WARRS. The project will be completely covered by the grant, with the additional funds to provide for unforeseen expenses.

The real expense would come from the annual price of operation. When the project was first mentioned several months ago, Motorola was projecting slightly more than $650,000 a year for upkeep, an amount the county could not afford. Several weeks later, the cost was cut by about $200,000. Still too much, said Carroll County Commission Chairman Bill Chappell.

Several more weeks passed and Motorola again revised its offer, dropping the total by another $200,000.

With the current proposed cost at $259,000 the county began to actively recruit other governments to join the network. Shortly thereafter, Heard and Haralson counties agreed to participate. Coweta County has discussed becoming a part of the new system, though no commitment has yet been made. The operational cost will go into affect one year after the system goes online, tentatively scheduled for June 2009.

With the price tag on the new system covered through grant money and more agencies bearing the operation costs, the decision will ultimately spread the operational costs across the region and reduce the amount any one county has to pay, Thomas said.

“Essentially, what the expansion of the system will do is help us reduce additional maintenance cost,” Thomas said. “Anytime you bring in more users, the less cost it is to all the users.”

Before making the decision, the board heard from Michael McGannon, the manager of the wireless branch of Engineering Associates, an independent wireless communications network consulting firm. McGannon presented a report examining the current VHF method of communication and made a formal recommendation that the authority accept Motorola’s proposal to add five towers across the three-county region and upgrade to the 800 MHz system.

He cited the dangerous inadequacies of the existing emergency communications structure. According to McGannon’s report, a host of emergency responders in the county reported that the VHF system provided “inadequate coverage.” They reported having to battle outside interference from other frequencies, and all but the Villa Rica Police Department complained of congestion across their channels of communication.

With that in mind, the report examined the VHF system using seven different criteria. These included coverage, capacity, reliability, the possibility of reusing existing assets, available features, appropriateness of technology and security alarms tied to the system.

Across the board, McGannon found the existing system fell short, resulting in dangerously long response times and failures in communication between personnel.

For these reasons, the report concluded, “The VHF conventional technology in use in Carroll County today is not meeting the operational requirements of the public safety users. ... It is our recommendation that the county expediently deploy their 800 MHz system to protect the lives and property of the citizens they serve. This technology should allow the county the best communications platform to best protect their citizens for many years in the future.”

As a means to better ensure the safety and security of area citizens, Chappell said the project is an absolute priority.