The United States Coast Guard station in St. Ignace will receive a few of Mackinac County’s 800 megahertz radios so the federal agency will be able to enjoy direct communication with local emergency service units.

Tate McDaniel, the executive petty officer of Station St. Ignace, and Jim Renkes, operations petty officer, during a Mackinac County Central Dispatch board meeting Tuesday, July 26, requested one base station and two portable radios for the station to use for emergencies on the Great Lakes.

The federal radio frequencies are not able to communicate with the new 800 megahertz frequency adopted by state and local emergency units. Mr. Renkes said the only way the Coast Guard can now contact local agencies during an emergency is by cellular telephone, which is not reliable in the upper Great Lakes.

The board agreed to budget the purchase of more radios, however, board member Clark O’Brien Jr. of Cedarville reminded the two officers that Coast Guard St. Ignace turned down an initial offer from the county a few years ago.

Mr. Renkes explained that the district commanders, not the local agency, made the decision not to join with the county, based on naval regulations regarding communication with local agencies. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, however, he explained, the federal government is beginning to improve its communication systems with local units and top officials in the Coast Guard are trying to ease regulations to allow better communication with other agencies during emergencies.

County 9-1-1 Coordinator Bryce Tracy said he will draft a user loan agreement for Station St. Ignace. Financing the purchase of the new equipment has yet to be worked out, but Mr. Tracy will provide Mr. Renkes with a cost package as soon as possible. He noted that the cost of a digital 800 megahertz base station is about $3,500 and each portable radio costs up to $2,200.

Mr. Tracy said getting the radios programmed for the county’s frequency and assigning identification numbers may take awhile, because the state Department of Communications Technology is logjammed with many radios to be programmed. Mr. Tracy said he has 17 radios on his desk still needing to be programmed.

“I think the Coast Guard is a vital resource for us with emergencies, since, for example, they are used for ice rescue and pollution response,” said Mr. Tracy.

Mr. Renkes reiterated that the radios would be used just for the St. Ignace station and no other Coast Guard office.

In a related discussion, Josh Packer, a special agent from the Coast Guard’s Investigative Service Department in Detroit, requested and received authorization from the board to allow him to use the county’s 9-1-1 radio frequency for communication while in the area. The board insisted Mr. Packer confirm his use of the frequency with the Michigan State Police, as well.

Mr. Packer was assigned to cover the Great Lakes area in Mackinac County and in the Sault. He said he is in the area working on cases more than he expected and would use the frequency to notify local agencies or contact them for back-up.

“Through our experience, state and local contacts have been a big help for our department,” said Mr. Packer. “By using your frequency, we can allow the county to know where we’ll be at. It will help everyone.”

In other discussions at the meeting, Mr. Tracy said it has yet to be determined whether Lange Enterprise of Wisconsin will seek a lawsuit against the county for not honoring its contract for work done on the county’s new digital map. The county contends the firm’s work is useless and full of errors and that the company did not live up to the contract.

In the meantime, Mr. Tracy has redrafted a request for bids to continue the project, which now includes two new requirements: The company awarded the bid this time must submit and follow a timeline and any deviations of the contract must first be presented to and approved by the board.

The board agreed to have the draft reviewed by County Prosecuting Attorney Clayton Graham one more time before being published.

A temporary antenna system will be hooked up to the Mackinac Island Fire Department building on Market Street in September to test the 800 megahertz signal being redirected to the downtown area. Mr. Tracy said the initial testing had good results, however, the system will be put up temporarily to finalize testing.

The system will provide a better radio signal in the downtown area for Island emergency responders.

Mackinac Island Fire Chief Dennis Bradley and firefighter Ben Mosley attended the meeting.