Communication System Almost Complete in Old Saybrook, CT

OLD SAYBROOK - The town's new emergency communications system, a project almost six years in the making, will soon be complete.

Residents in April 2007 approved the allocation of an additional $1.78 million to fund the system which had a total price tag of $2.81 million.

The system is meant to improve the ability for various emergency-related departments to communicate with each other and to improve radio coverage throughout town.

Old Saybrook Police Department's Adam Gardner told residents at the Jan. 17 Board of Selectmen meeting that the different components of the system are being put in place.

The installation of a tower behind Old Saybrook Police Headquarters is 75 percent complete with a nearby communication shelter almost 80 percent complete, Gardner said.

Computers in the dispatch system at headquarters will need to be upgraded so the system can be operated from that location, Gardner said.

A second tower, which was erected near the Connecticut Water Company tower, close to the Westbrook town line on Route 1, is a secondary site which has antennas and a communications shelter and is 100 percent complete.

A third tower site, at Old Saybrook Town Hall, is complete and the Emergency Operations Center in the basement has most, if not all, necessary equipment, Gardner said.

The fourth tower site is at Old Saybrook Fire Department Headquarters and involves the installation of antennas on the existing tower, a project that started in early January.

The police department is working on acquiring space on an existing cellular tower on Middlesex Turnpike, making this the fifth tower site in town.

It is expected that site work will be completed in 10 to 15 weeks, Gardner said, adding that the most time consuming part of the project was the tower behind Police Headquarters which took three months.

After tower site work is done, Gardner said subscriber units will be installed in various town emergency vehicles allowing them to communicate with each other.
These departments include police, fire, ambulance, public works, health district, town hall, and Board of Education.

At that point, a testing phase will be conducted to ensure that radios will in fact have the ability to work in all parts of Old Saybrook.

While a test was conducted before any work was completed, Gardner said this final test will ensure the system works as it was designed.

After testing is complete, the department will put the new system online and migrate over to it while slowly taking down the old system.

"There will be no interruption in public safety communication in town," Gardner said, adding that the department has been pleased with the equipment, vendor, and the way the project was managed.