PENDER COUNTY — Pender County and its municipalities are about to undergo an overhaul of their emergency radio network by replacing its equipment. To offset the financial strain on participating towns, the county intends to front the burden and allow each locality to reimburse the county over time.
READ MORE: NC, FEMA advance programs to address flood risk properties in Pender County
In July 2025, North Carolina’s statewide Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER) will stop supporting certain brands and models of older radios, used daily by fire, law enforcement, and EMS agencies to communicate.
By the deadline, all radios used must be compatible with TDMA Phase 2 P25 — a specific type of public safety technology. Pender County is one of nine counties in the state that uses the VIPER system as its main form of communication.
“If we wait until the radios stop working to purchase them and move forward, we just won’t have radios,” Surf City Fire Chief Allen Wilson told council at a Dec. 15 workshop. “We won’t be able to communicate. We don’t want to get to that point. We want to be proactive.”
To assist with the phasing out of the outdated technology and purchasing new, Pender County officials are considering a discounted bulk purchase.
If each department for the county and each of the six towns within it were to incur its own expenses, there would be a roughly 5.4% interest charged by Motorola for financing the radios.
Instead, Pender County is proposing to buy and replace around 900 radios at one time and allow municipalities that participate to pay it back over 10 years with zero interest. The county has been discussing this mass replacement project for a few years but investigating the bulk purchase option came about in the spring 2023 budget sessions.
“The overall cost has not been determined, as the agencies are still determining the total numbers and models of equipment needed,” Pender County spokesperson Brandi Cobb said. “The funds would likely come from the county general fund and be paid back by each department.”
However, Topsail Beach town manager Doug Shipley addressed the issue with commissioners last week. He said if the town were to purchase the radios on its own, it would cost around $300,000 — $200,000 for the hardware and an additional $10,000 per year in recurring costs for the software. It could save up to $100,000 to buy into the bulk deal.
Surf City’s cost is about $1.1 million, a 43% savings with the county’s discounted price compared to purchasing replacements on its own, according to director of emergency management James Horne’s discussion with council last week.
“This is also an opportunity for all departments within the county to have a single standard with enhanced capabilities such as location services to ensure the safety of our first responders and the public while saving taxpayer money,” Cobb said.
In 2020, Pender County authorized $590,005 — paid out over five years — to lease radios for its public safety agencies through Motorola. It allows the departments to communicate on the North Carolina Department of Public Safety VIPER system. Statewide there are more than 140,000 end users and 230 radio towers.
Surf City Fire Chief Wilson told council Dec. 15 it’s not really an option to not participate, while town manager Kyle Breuer agreed it was important to hear the proposal now to ensure Surf City’s emergency services remain fully operational.
The new equipment would retrieve real-time updates, without having to manually plug the radio into a device and update the firmware.
Location services will show dispatchers and supervisors exactly where a first responder is at all times — helpful both for safety and calling in backup if needed.
Horne explained 66% of Surf City’s radio fleet is no longer supported by the statewide system, come July 2025.
“So if it breaks, it has to be replaced and cannot be repaired,” he said. “There are no upgrade options.”
The other 33% are nearing the end of their usable lives — typically 12 to 15 years; theirs are about 13 years old.
Horne said the timing of the software replacement lines up with Surf City’s typical 10-year schedule anyway. In 2015, the town switched its systems over from analog to digital.
Surf City Police Chief Phil Voorhees recommended the town move forward with participating in the county’s offer to purchase the radios outright and save the town money in the long run.
“We make the investment now with the discount or pay two to three times more at some point in the future,” Voorhees said.
Wilson said he budgets up to $45,000 annually for radio and equipment replacements for the Surf City Fire Department already. The annual repayment costs for participating in the county’s program would end up equaling about the same.
“It’s really a no-brainer,” he said.
Wilson explained the Pender County Fire Commission began exploring the need to replace at least 400 radios among fire departments throughout the county three years ago. At that time, the cost estimate was $650,000 to $700,000, which the commission did not approve.
“But it got the ball rolling,” he said.
From there, law enforcement and EMS agencies joined the discussion.
“We started looking at municipal waste departments,” Wilson said, “and it went out of the fire commission’s hands and into the county manager’s office.”
The county has hired a project manager to oversee the process and work directly with the radio specialists. It could take up to a year to receive the equipment, so Cobb said the county plans to make a decision in February to allow ample time for delivery and testing.
Tips or comments? Email amy@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
