Construction of a new radio tower and support building on Morgantown Road could start as early as this week after a delay in the permitting process, Warren County Emergency Management Director Ronnie Pearson said.

The city and county have combined financial resources to pay for a $7 million emergency radio communication system.

The new system is under budget and on schedule for completion in November, Pearson said.

The system is designed to provide 91.4 percent guaranteed radio coverage in the county and 95 percent guaranteed coverage in the city compared to about 78 percent coverage in the city and 58 percent coverage in the county with the current system.

Last week, personnel from law enforcement and emergency management agencies in the city and county took part in training on the agency templates that must be laid out to allow radios in the system to function properly, Pearson said. “It is a complicated, computer-system driven radio system,” he said.

The county recently got permitting approval to build a radio tower and an accompanying building at a location on Morgantown Road, Pearson said. Once construction begins, it should take about 60 days to complete.

Buildings at radio towers at WBKO and Prices Chapel Road are substantially complete, as is a refurbishment of space near the WNKY radio tower, Pearson said.

Using existing towers helped save money on the overall system. 

Antennas still need to be placed at the WBKO radio tower, and equipment still needs to arrive to link antennas at Bowling Green Municipal Utilities to the Bowling Green Police Department, Pearson said.

Portable and mobile radios to work with the new system arrived before the beginning of the year, he said.

Control components have also already been placed in buildings that are completed, Pearson said.

However, it is hard to ensure all the equipment is working properly and communicating correctly until after the new tower on Morgantown Road is completed, he said.

“A lot of individuals is putting in a lot of time and effort to make this system happen,” Pearson said.

He said he’s hopeful that testing of the system can take place in September or October to ensure the system offers the promised coverage.

That testing needs to be done while foliage is still on the trees because having leaves on the trees can impact the radio system’s reach, Pearson said.

It is expected that all emergency response departments will be transferred to the new system by November, though some transfers could be pushed into December, he said.

“We’re very pleased with where we’re at,” Pearson said. “We’re anxious to get the system up and operational. But if the federal government and Mother Nature stays on our side, we’ll be OK.”

Weather could impact the expected completion date, he said.

The system comes with a full three-year warranty, Pearson said. The contract with Motorola also includes training with new equipment.

“We think we’ve got a very robust contract,” Pearson said. “It’s a very plain system. There’s no bells and whistles, but I think in the long term this will serve the citizens and the emergency services agencies for many years to come.”

Maj. Tommy Smith, chief deputy with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, said progress is being made toward completion of the new radio system after a delay with getting FCC approval to construct the Morgantown Road tower

Smith is a member of the Public Safety Mobile Radio System Agency working on the project.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. 

The current emergency radio system is made of a single, older tower that it’s hard to find replacement parts for, Smith said.

“We’re just one disaster away from not having any communications,” he said.

Organizations using the new system will include city and county emergency response agencies as well as GObg Transit, Smith said.

The agency is also negotiating with the Western Kentucky University Police Department and the Medical Center Emergency Medical Services to allow them to use the radio system as well, he said.

— Follow government writer Katie Brandenburg on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.