NEILLSVILLE, Wis. (WSAU) — A $3.8 million-dollar Wisconsin Trust Fund loan has been approved to fund part of an upgrade to Clark County’s emergency communication network.
That’s according to emergency management director John Ross, who says it’s getting harder to get parts and maintenance support. “Some of it is nearing, and some of it is already past its end of support from the manufacturer,” Ross said. Recent federally-mandated radio band changes make the county’s current equipment less effective, Ross added, “and once that was done it was discovered that it had a negative impact on coverage.”
The upgrades are expected to improve law enforcement, fire, highway, and EMS services around the county; and will include improvements to 911 answering equipment, as well as infra-structure for the entire emergency communications network.
Some features of the new system should be operational by later this year, but due to the complex nature of the project, full implementation of the system probably won’t happen until the first quarter of 2017.