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Much like the counties around it, The radio system in Buckingham County needs to be replaced. Sometimes when a dispatch call goes out, it’s hard for firefighters to understand it, due to the lack of clarity. The challenge for Buckingham is figuring out a way to address the problem, without going over what’s already a very tight budget this year. The answer was in ARPA money. That stands for American Rescue Plan Act, grant funds given out to counties and towns as a way to both help rebuild and re-ignite the economy after COVID-19. 

They do come with some restrictions. They can’t be used for just anything.

The federal guidelines say ARPA money can be spent on “investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure,” as well as general economic recovery or any project providing “economic assistance to small businesses, households, and hard-hit industries.” In this case, the finance committee looked at a list of different proposals and weighed both the benefits and if they fit the requirements. 

And the fire and EMS radio system seemed like a good fit. What supervisors did was allocate $270,000 to basically install a patch, until they can afford to redo the whole thing. 

Buckingham County has been lucky

“The system is just worn out and needs to be updated,” Supervisor Cameron Gilliam said. “This $270,000 may not be a complete fix to it right away, we could have taken some money, the board could have taken some money, and fixed it and patched it, but the problem is it would have been obsolete in a small amount of time. That $270,000 is the start of an upgrade of a system that will last for a long time. Now we may not see the results of this system right away, but at least it’s not going to be a temporary patch where we take the money and a year and a half, it’s obsolete and no good.”   

Buckingham County Administrator Karl Carter said the county departments have been on this same radio system for 12 years, so “we’ve been lucky this system has lasted as long as it has.” He added that county staff realizes that in roughly 12 years, a lot of the parts become obsolete. If something breaks, it’s not as simple as running to the store and picking up a replacement. If there’s a lightning strike, Carter said, it’s hard to find parts to replace the damage. 

“We know that $270,000 isn’t going to fix the system, but it’ll buy us some more time, so when we get extra funds coming in, we can start working on completing that radio system.” 

Buckingham County supervisors unanimously voted to use the ARPA money to help fund the project. 

Using different methods 

In neighboring counties, they use different methods to achieve the same goal. 

Cumberland is becoming a tenant on the VSP radio system, using their network. Now Cumberland purchases all of the needed equipment, but there are no new radio towers needed. They will use the current towers in Cumberland, Louisa and Prince Edward for signal.

The new system will allow communication with up to 250 groups, which more than covers local needs. The county’s current radio system is used by virtually every department, from the sheriff’s office to dispatch, fire and rescue administration, volunteer fire departments, EMS providers, animal protection and public works. Estimated startup costs for this option would run just under $2 million, with annual costs of roughly $98,000 for years two through five in the program. 

And then there’s Prince Edward. The county has bought a new system and is bringing a number of agencies on it. That means the Farmville Police Department, the Prince Edward Sheriff’s Office, the Longwood Police Department, the Hampden-Sydney Police Department and all fire and rescue operations in the area. Prince Edward’s Public Works and Solid Waste departments will also be included, with space available to include the school system in the future. There are three tower sites included.

The main tower is a Dominion Energy tower on East Third Street and Milnwood Road. The second is on Prince Edward Highway, just past the convenience site in Prospect. And the third is at the intersection of Douglas Church Road at Abilene Road. As for that one’s cost? Thanks to a grant Prince Edward received, the county’s portion came in at $4.8 million, with Farmville paying $1.21 million. Longwood agreed to pay $144,450 and Hampden-Sydney will cover $55,557. 

What does a radio system include?

What does a radio system include? Both Cumberland and Prince Edward’s versions include sheriff’s office units equipped with repeaters and wifi, the same as EMS vehicles and animal control. All fire vehicles will be equipped with wifi.

A quick note here, because we’ve been asked before. A radio repeater combines a radio receiver and a radio transmitter, receiving a signal and then retransmitting it over a larger distance. It helps two-way radio communication stretch further than the normal range of a single radio transmission.