Merger will improve coordination, save money
By Heather Michon, Correspondent
The Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve an agreement to unite public safety communications systems with Louisa County following a public hearing during its Nov. 20 meeting.
Under the agreement, Fluvanna and Louisa emergency communications system will become the Piedmont Public Safety Communication System, allowing the two counties to share one common communications system and splitting the costs of maintenance.
According to information provided to the board, Louisa County will pay $381,689 for the system “core,” a hub needed to combine the two systems. They will also pay an estimated $78,000 a year for routine maintenance.
In an email, County Administrator Steve Nichols said the idea of sharing systems had been discussed between the two counties for about a decade. Fluvanna upgraded its equipment in 2017, and Louisa is currently upgrading to a similar Motorola system.
Not only will both counties save money, but the arrangement could also enhance coordination during emergencies. The two systems are, at the moment, incompatible.
“It’ll make it a lot easier for us to work together with Louisa,” Supervisor Mike Sheridan said during the Nov. 20 meeting. A volunteer firefighter in Kents Store, he remarked that they sometimes end up just tossing their Louisa counterparts a spare radio so they can communicate when working the same incident.
“This system will allow our responders to integrate into an incident seamlessly,” said Michael Grandstaff, director of communications for Fluvanna’s E911 center.
Nichols told supervisors that the agreement is “certainly a win-win, and a great collaboration,” and it may be just the beginning. Madison and Greene counties are already looking into the potential of joining the system in the coming years.
