Delaware's 800 MHz task force releases recommendations

By D.L. Bonar, Senior writer

DOVER - Members of the legislative task force on emergency radio communications in Delaware are nearing the end of their long-standing effort to find solutions to 800 MHz problems.

After a series of articles, beginning last March in the Delaware State News, a legislative review committee was established to find out why there were certain areas in the state that were not covered by the new $52 million high-tech radio system.

During hearings in the House of Representatives last spring, lawmakers, including Rep. Clifford Lee, R-Laurel, Rep. Charles West, D-Gumboro, and Rep. Bruce C. Ennis, D-Smyrna, were informed there were several sections of the state left without important radio coverage because of a lack of signal.

In the end, Gov. Thomas R. Carper and representatives of Motorola Radio Communications reached an agreement that called for improvements to be made at Motorola's expense.

What now remains is a small area of Claymont, in northern Delaware, which experiences some difficulty in coverage.

After three months of discussion, the legislative hearing committee has come up with a list of five recommendations to help deal with the problems.

Those include the establishment of an advisory committee for the 800 MHz radio system, the requirement of at least a 90 percent in-building coverage, establishing a group of volunteer technology experts and a request to the Controller General and Budget Director to develop a professional services procurement procedure for state agencies.

The recommendations finally call for the adoption of HB 329 with HA1, which calls for outside consultants on technical projects costing more than $500,000.

"We'll meet again in a couple of months to see how well the outside coverage has been corrected," said Rep. Stephanie Ulbrich, R-Newark, chair of the commit-tee.

"I am very pleased with the recommendations."

"The legislation to require a technical expert to supervise these projects is very important," said Rep. Nancy H. Wagner, R-Dover. "We still have an issue of gaining reliable outside-the-building coverage, and I hope it works out much more smoothly than this has."

D.L. Bonar can be reached at 741-8228 or dbonar@newszap.com

Contents © 2008 by David Schoenberger