SAUGUS — The Board of Selectmen and Town Manager Scott Crabtree sat down together to discuss the priorities the Board has set and the current status of them.
One of these priorities is the public safety communications improvements which Crabtree spoke about.
“We’ve gone through revamped plans over the last year or two and trying to get the right amount of money to do the things that are needed within this communication system,” he said.
Crabtree said it’s about a $4.5 million project and that they’ve done that with grant money, appropriations, and without having a debt exclusion.
“Everything is 40, 50, 60 years old… We’re in phase one,” Crabtree said, adding that they’ve gone out to bid, but due to laws and different statutes, different parts need different bids.
Crabtree said equipment has been ordered and Public Safety personnel were involved in the process.
“The big picture (of) what’s happening now is: We’re going to be temporarily moving the 911 dispatch area. That’s going to be going up into the training room… It will become our dispatch area temporarily,” he said.
Crabtree said the the commanding officer’s office is going to be reconstructed, and the area will be redesigned to be more efficient. He noted that the equipment is also past its use of life, and the 911 equipment will be changed.
“On top of that, we’re also doing all the towers’ fiber optics, and we’re actually siting a new tower and going to install a new tower so that we have redundancy with all the radios and the communications between all public safety,” he said.
Crabtree hopes this will be good for the next 30+ years. He noted that there might be bumps in the road during the transition, but everything is ordered, and things are out to bid for the other phases.
Crabtree noted that once the improvements are complete and everything is removed from the training room, the room will be redone with new furniture and equipment for the Public Safety workers.
First deliveries for equipment are expected in mid-November, but Crabtree said that it could be mid-December.
He said there were about nine pages worth of equipment being bought, including dispatch consoles, radio control stations, a new Zetron, and others.
Crabtree said phase two, the design and bid package, has been completed and is currently out to bid under a separate process.
“This phase of work will also include siting a 150-foot area tower, which is phase three, that will increase and provide radio coverage throughout the town and work to eliminate as many dead spots in radio coverage as possible,” he said.
Crabtree said this is one of the more important and significant things.
“Not only for our officers and our firefighters and everybody else, but for the residents as well,” he said.
Board Chair Debra Panetta asked how much of the initiative is being paid by a grant. Crabtree said there is a $1 million federal earmark.
