MORGANTOWN – In March, Monongalia County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency / MECCA 911 will mark two years in its purpose built, $10 million facility in the upper portion of the Morgantown Industrial Park.
Now, the agency is ready to take on what Director Jimmy Smith is calling “the final phase of our upgrade.”
During a recent sitdown with the Monongalia County Commission, Smith laid out plans to invest $762,192 in a new suite of radio consoles for the facility.
“As you know, when we moved in, we upgraded our phone systems, our recorders; all of our equipment was upgraded with the move. The one thing we did not upgrade was our radio consoles,” Smith said, explaining the decision to wait was deliberate as Motorola anticipated rolling out its next generation of 7500E dispatch consoles in 2025.
Those units have since hit the market.
While the final overall price is still being negotiated, Smith said the agency is currently looking at a purchase cost of $571,974 for 11 dispatch consoles, plus another $190,000 for upgraded technology and system support, including tower site monitoring.
“The three tower sites that are in Monongalia County, even though only two of those sites are ours – Catherines Knob and Harmony Grove are ours – but we also have the Sand Springs site up toward Coopers Rock, which is the state site. Any of our responders out on 68 or in that Cheat Lake area, a lot of times are hitting that site. So, we asked for a proposal for site monitoring for all three of those sites,” Smith said.
Site monitoring is exactly what it sounds like.
If the temperature or humidity fluctuates in the tower enclosure, facility doors are accessed or an irregularity is detected with the tower’s operation, the system will not only trigger a visual heads-up warning in the MECCA facility, but send text and email notifications to MECCA leadership as well as staff with the West Virginia Statewide Interoperable Radio Network at the state level.
Pending approval from MECCA’s policy board in March, the upgrades will be funded internally by MECCA using accumulated 911 fees collected as part of land line and cellphone bills within the county.
“We have this in the budget from our 911 fees,” Smith said. “We’ve been carrying it over.”
Cellphone users are currently paying $4.38 in monthly charges to support 911 services. Those rates are set by the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Land lines and VoIP, or voice over Internet protocol, bills include a $3 monthly fee set by the county.
“I know there’s some counties in the state, I mean, they’re up to $9 a month on 911 fees. I truly never want to see us get to that point, because if we look at who has landlines, a lot of our seniors maintain their landlines. I don’t want to continue to raise a rate on our seniors if we don’t need to,” Smith said. “Right now, as our cellular money continues to grow, our landlines are still creeping downward … So, at this point, I’m very comfortable leaving it at $3 a month for our seniors. That’s how I look at it.”
The MECCA 911 center, located at 911 Responders Drive, was financed by the Monongalia County Commission through a lease agreement with Enrout Properties, the owner of the Morgantown Industrial Park.
