News
Glendive, Montana chosen site for multi-million dollar facility
A $3.5 million master control site for the Interoperability Montana project will be built in rural Glendive, creating a regional hub for a massive communications system.
Police Chief Alan Michaels, who serves as the chairman for the statewide law enforcement and first responders communications project, said he worked hard to bring one of four major proposed control centers to Glendive.
By Melissa Smith
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Not only will it be good for the town economically, he said, but it also made the most sense for the IM project. Three potential sites from Billings to Glendive were considered.
“This needed to be in eastern Montana,” he said. “Billings is east, but it’s not eastern.”
The control site will serve as a regional point for the public safety radio system, which will connect local law enforcement with state and federal agencies with ease.
“Whatever message you put through will be crystal clear,” Michaels said.
Right now, local agencies do not have radio connections with organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Also, inter-county communication is cumbersome, because law enforcement and other first responders must find the right frequencies to use for each county.
Under the new system, a $54 million project that will connect nearly all of Montana, Michaels said communication will be much easier.
“It’s going to be very valuable to have this capability,” he said.
The state has been subdivided into regional tiers, and so far work is nearly complete on the Northern tier, which spans the Canadian border.
A control site is located in Lewis and Clark County, and Michaels said it is already showing its value. The site started out with 400 subscribers and now includes 2,000.
“It’s still growing,” he said. “That’s what you’re going to see all over with this system. It will show its value.”
Dawson County is in the state’s eastern tier, which includes 10 counties.
Construction work on the control site, which will be located east of town, is expected to begin this summer.
Michaels said right now, leaders are negotiating a deal to purchase approximately one acre of land to house the building.
A road will be constructed to the site and one person will be employed to manage operations.
Work also will begin on microwave connections necessary to make the system work in the region.
Several towers will connect to the control site to provide the high-capacity microwave backbone necessary for the secure transmittal of both voice and data communications.
In Dawson County, tower sites have been identified in the Makoshika State Park area and near the southern border of the county.
A tower also will be constructed at the control site.
The money for the control site was appropriated during the state’s last legislative session. While funding for much of the interoperability system has come from the federal Department of Homeland Security, several sources have provided revenue.
Michaels said he expects to see the local site operational in 2010.
The entire state is expected to be online by 2012.
While Michaels has been a major driver behind the project both statewide and in Dawson County, he said it has been a massive interagency collaboration requiring cooperation from numerous people.
He credits the Dawson County Commissioners, Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Pam Crisafulli and the Richland County undersheriff for their work in securing the control site for Glendive.
Also, he said, he is grateful to the City of Glendive for affording him the opportunity to take a leadership role in the project.
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