Butts County (GA)

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New Digital Radio System

12/30/24 - Butts County’s public service communication system is now top notch as four new communication towers and all new communication equipment have been installed across the county’s public safety network.

The total system cost $2.5 million, which includes four towers, new radios for all field units (mobile and handheld), console equipment for the radio center and the equipment at each tower site, plus installation.

Briefing: Public Safety Radio System Upgrade

County Manager Brad Johnson presented this item. The Administration has solicited bids for significant enhancements to our public safety two-way radio system currently in use by E-911, Sheriff, Police, Fire and EMS. The administration has reviewed all bids and has selected the most cost-effective and responsive bid for presentation to the Board of Commissioners. Once the bid has been awarded, a significant upgrade to all of our public safety radio systems would be accomplished per the specifications in the bid package. Final project phases will be completed in the first half of 2024. The award will be made to Baker's Communication, Inc of 2627 SW Main Blvd, Lake City, FL 32056 in the amount of $1,940,090.00.

Mr. Johnson presented a request to purchase a UHF digital radio system for Public Safety usage in the Fire, EMS and Law Enforcement Agencies, as well as Public Works.

Miscellaneous Information

Request for proposals (PDF)
Butts County is a relatively small county covering roughly 185 square miles in the southern half of North

Georgia. Located nearly equidistant between Atlanta and Macon, the County shares a common border with two of Georgia’s fastest growing counties and hosts six miles of Interstate 75, along with two rapidly growing and complex interchanges. These interchanges and the interstate corridor alone contribute to a significant public safety impact, demanding high quality public safety radio communications. Butts County also has a rolling and, in some cases, hilly topography that presents occasional challenges to high quality communications. Outdoor recreational opportunities such as biking and hiking trails, a major river corridor, a large recreational lake and wilderness areas present unique challenges when rescue efforts much be mounted and being able to communicate effectively between base operations and field units will be essential in a new public safety communication solution.

Primary public safety communications originate with the Butts County E-911 Dispatch Center, located at

625 W. Third Street in Jackson, Georgia. The Center began operations in October of 1993 as the first centralized dispatch center for Butts County. Prior to its opening, local public safety agencies handled and managed their own radio dispatch systems and equipment, much of which was inherited when these functions were centralized into the new dispatch center. While there have been at least two major upgrades to the system interfaces within the E-911 center and some key hardware and software upgrades to the behind-the-scenes system architecture, the system operates essentially on the same basis as it has since the center was created. As time has gone by, the quality of signal, distance and the abilities of the system have become tremendously impacted by frequency crowding and the proliferation of modern private sector communications architecture that did not exist in 1993. This has resulted in considerable degradation of radio communications, which in turn has impacted the safety and efficiency of our public safety field units and others.

The Butts County E-911 Dispatch Center utilizes three console stations on a regular basis and can escalate operations to four when necessary, which is the maximum currently available. Operators and Supervisors working at these consoles provide the dual role of call taking and dispatch functions for the following primary agencies:

a. Butts County Fire and EMS (Jurisdictional Fire Coverage and Countywide Ambulance) b. Butts County Sheriff’s Office (Countywide) c. Butts County Emergency Management (Countywide) d. Jackson Police Department (Coverage within the City of Jackson) e. Jackson Fire Department (Coverage primarily within the City of Jackson) f. Flovilla Fire Department (Coverage primarily within the City of Flovilla) g. Georgia Diagnostic Prison Fire Department (Coverage countywide) Additionally, the dispatch center occasionally communicates via radio with the following agencies: a. Butts County Administration Department b. Butts County Public Works Department

It is important to note that all these agencies share one of two major frequencies. All law enforcement agencies currently share one VHF frequency, while all non-law enforcement agencies share a common VHF frequency of their own. Administration and Public Works can communicate on both frequencies as the need arises. Additionally, a number of secondary and tertiary frequencies are available and can be used for ground communications such as Fire Incident Command or Law Enforcement Ground Operations when a situation calls for it.

The current system makes use of the following external infrastructure to aid in communications:

a. A 150’ tower located at 1471 Highway 16 West (repeaters for LE and Fire/EMS). Located at this site is a Hear Base station with multiple channels/frequencies, microwave brain boxes, 3 UPS’s (for each repeater and base) b. An elevated water tank located at 116 Jackson Lake Inn Road (LE relays). This site is a receiver site for L.E. and microwave equipment. c. An elevated water tank located at 2182 Highway 16 West (LE relays). This site is a receiver site for L.E. and microwave equipment. d. Leased space on an AT&T freestanding 300’ tower on the east side of the Ocmulgee. River. This site has an auxiliary receiver for Fire.

III. Desired Outcomes

Butts County wishes to receive cost proposals from qualified vendors capable of providing a turnkey solution for upgrading our existing radio communications system from VHF to a modern UHF Digital Trunking System capable of interoperability with MCS5500 radio dispatch consoles.

The system should include a minimum of six (6) channels/frequencies and, upon implementation, be capable of providing at least 90% or better coverage with portable radio on hip with shoulder mic within Butts County.

The system should include Fire Station alerting using NFPA 1221 Standards for all Fire/EMS stations including Butts County, city of Flovilla, city of Jackson, and the Diagnostic Center.
System should have the capability to talk with departments affiliated with Butts County and interoperability with State and surrounding agencies.

The system would also need to include the following minimum equipment for field use. The mobile units will need to be installed on a variety of vehicles. a. 164 system capable portable units b. 155 system capable mobile units

The system capable mobile units broken down by department: • Administration 4 • E-911 Center 1 • Code Enforcement 3 • Fire Department 32 • Public Works 7 • Sheriff’s Office 78 • Flovilla Fire Department 4 • City of Jackson Fire Department 7 • City of Jackson Police Department 20 c. Assist Butts County with licensure and procurement of channels/frequencies from the FCC. d. During the maintenance term, contractor shall supply and install all updates, enhancements, improvements, or modifications to the equipment (hardware, firmware, and software) at no additional cost to the County. During the maintenance period, the contractor shall correct or replace the equipment or provide the services necessary to remedy any programming error, malfunction, or other problems relating to the hardware, software, firmware. After the maintenance term expires, maintenance/support costs provided by the contractor will be paid by the County.

Dec 30, 2024 - ARTICLE

Butts County’s public service communication system is now top notch as four new communication towers and all new communication equipment have been installed across the county’s public safety network.

The total system cost $2.5 million, which includes four towers, new radios for all field units (mobile and handheld), console equipment for the radio center and the equipment at each tower site, plus installation. A combination of SPLOST funds, impact fees and capital improvement funds was used to purchase the new system.

“Normally, a system of this type could cost considerably more,” said Butts County Deputy County Manager Michael Brewer, “however, we were able to achieve cost efficiencies by constructing the buildings that are required to house equipment at each radio tower site using our own personnel and inmate labor workforce under the guidance of a skilled contractor.”

Brewer said the county sees this as a strategic investment in the safety of Butts County’s public safety personnel working in the field, including fire, ambulance, police, sheriff’s office and emergency management.

“Their safety is our highest priority, and the citizens will also see a return on investment by gaining enhanced public safety operations 24 hours a day,” he said.

The county’s public safety staff has relied on a public safety radio system (purchased in the 1980s) which used analog technology and a frequency range of VHF (Very High Frequency). The new system represents a generational leap in technology as it uses UHF (Ultra High Frequency).

VHF radio waves operate in a band between 30 — 300 megahertz, while UHF radio signals are between 300 megahertz and 3 gigahertz, which is much higher and more adaptable to digital applications, explained Brewer.

“This is not unlike cellular technology, which transitioned over from analog to digital years ago, resulting in much clearer voice communication,” he said. “Digital also allows for signal encryption, which means transmissions between the radio dispatch center and the units in the field, as well as unit to unit, are private and secure.”

This allows the system to always know who is speaking on the airwaves and be able to locate them if they are in trouble.

“The biggest advantage of the new system is that there will be much greater reception and clarity than the current system can allow. It will prevent units from talking over each other on the airwaves and will ensure that they have a clear transmission signal before they can transmit,” Brewer said.

To do this, the new radio towers had to be strategically placed around the county. The towers are located at the Butts County Fire and Emergency Services fire stations in Stark, Indian Springs and Colwell Road and by Southern Crescent Technical College on the site where a new fire station is set to be built. The towers in Stark and near the college are taller and require lights at the top. (The other two are slightly shorter than the threshold requiring tower lighting.)

“The four new communication towers have good line of sight with each other, which creates a matrix of peak operability, within which our public safety units can operate with much greater clarity over longer distance and with considerably enhanced reliability,” Brewer said. “Our county is about 185 square miles in area, and our radio people feel that the four towers will accomplish a reliability factor greater than 95%, which is within the highest range of reliability.”

Butts County

Butts County Sheriff

Butts County Government

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Municipalities

Flovila

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Jackson

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Schools

Butts Schools

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