Proponents of MARCS and L3Harris radio systems make their case in North Ridgeville

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — With the pressure on for North Ridgeville officials to approve upgrades for their fire department's radio communication system, representatives of two different options made their case to City Council members at a committee meeting Tuesday. North Ridgeville Fire Department currently uses an ultra-high frequency (UHF) analog system, and Chief John Reese said the department has been using it for more than 20 years. Communication problems have been reported in multiple situations. Reese supports a switch to a 700/800 MHz L3Harris system as part of a "five city radio" plan with Avon, Avon Lake, Sheffield and Sheffield Lake. All five communities' fire departments provide mutual aid to each other. Like other communities involved in the plan, North Ridgeville would enter into a two-year contract with the Parma-based company Cleveland Communications Inc., which intends to install hardware on three towers in the area, assuming necessary approval is obtained. Each participating city will pay a fee for use. Cleveland Communications will own and maintain the core of the system at its headquarters. Each community would also receive 20 free radios as part of the deal, Reese said, a savings of about $65,000 per department. They could get additional help with purchasing new compatible radios from a grant. "We're going to have integration with the City of Elyria. I'm told that we'll be able to interface with MARCS, and I don't doubt it," Reese said Tuesday, referencing the 700/800 MHz Multi-Agency Radio Communication System that some others at the meeting preferred due to its prevalence across Ohio and associated benefits. MARCS field operations manager Dick Miller presented about the benefits of the system, describing it as "something that is critical everywhere." "If they go to Harris, they're not going to be able to talk to the Turnpike Commission. The Turnpike Commission is on MARCS. They're not going to be able to talk to a trooper that's working a detail out there. They're on MARCS," Miller said. Mayor Kevin Corcoran said North Ridgeville Fire Department is the only department on the Westcom Fire Dispatch not on MARCS. He said the North Ridgeville Police Department has tested the MARCS system in the city and it worked well. Seventy-five of Ohio's 88 counties use the MARCS system and it has interoperability throughout the entire state, said Safety Service Director Jeff Armbruster. But Reese, like other North Ridgeville firefighters who spoke to Council members earlier this month, say they favor the L3Harris system. "I have been committed to this system throughout. I have not wavered throughout," Reese said. He said a solution is needed soon because the other communities that move to the L3Harris system will be on it by mid-September. L3Harris can communicate with MARCS and could communicate with Westcom on a control station basis, asserted Alan Close, owner of Cleveland Communications. "The control stations will allow communication between the Turnpike and a firefighter or police officer in North Ridgeville or anywhere in Lorain County," Close said. He later told Corcoran the fire department would need either a control station or a console subsystem interface to connect to the system's core. After hearing appeals from both sides, Councilman Bruce Abens, 3rd Ward, said his concern is the intercommunication between different systems. "Quite frankly, it sounds like we are between a rock and a hard place," Abens said. "No matter which system we choose, it sounds like communications between the systems are going to be not as effortless as we would like them to be." The legislation the committee was discussing Tuesday would specifically give Corcoran permission to sign an agreement with Cleveland Communications. It will now go back to a regular Council meeting for further consideration. If passed, it would just give the mayor permission to enter into the agreement, and would not in and of itself enter the city into a radio system contract. Contact the reporter Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.