Crime & Safety

Potential Costs Rising for Radio Communications Upgrade

Introduced ordinance to meet coverage and compliance needs includes other related infrastructure projects, at a cost of more than $1 million.

Originally projected to spend about $700,000 to meet federal radio communication compliance measures while markedly improving its coverage woes, Ridgewood's dollar figure might be rising.

The village council on Wednesday introduced an ordinance allocating $1,067,930 to meet narrowband radio requirements set in place by the federal government, including big dollars to add fiber optic lines and make vast improvements to its dispatch center.

The council at its prior meeting gave the thumbs up to allocate $693,750, which would meet the federal narrowband standard but also remove some dead spots first responders encounter int he field.

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Glen Rock, under that initiative, would be paying the remainder of the $895,282. Anything else to help beef up the system would be procured through grant funding, if available.

While the council still does not need to pay more than the $693,750 it has committed to, Village Manager Ken Gabbert and radio upgrades point man Kevin Scarpa said they think it makes the most sense to bite the bullet and upgrade across the board.

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Included in the introduced ordinance is the upgrade of fiber lines, replacing old copper infrastructure seldom maintained by Verizon. Sticking with old copper technology on Verizon lease lines would cost up to $80,000 a year, Scarpa said, reasoning that the move to fiber optics would pay for itself in a short time. That cost is a total of $250,000, split 50-50 with Glen Rock. Ridgewood's school board moved to fiber lines several years prior.

Also introduced are major software upgrades at Central Dispatch, the shared regional dispatch center housed in the Pease Library. Central can't expand and attract other towns without the upgrades, Scarpa said. Paying two-thirds of the bill, Ridgewood would fork over $250,000 under this potential scenario.

The need to upgrade software at the dispatch center is much greater than was initially projected, Gabbert said. An engineering report would give the council a better handle on exact costs, he added.

Even if passed at its Oct. 10 meeting, it's no guarantee the ordinance will be fully funded. The council could choose to vote in favor of the ordinance and later only allow the compliance and specific converage needs to be funded.

If grant money were to be received, the max the village would likely be able to procure is about $600,000.

Glen Rock is introducing its $525,000 radio communications ordinance on Monday, Sept. 24.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.