Safety forces throughout Cuyahoga County have been working since 2000 - even before 9/11 - to coordinate emergency communications between all the various communities. So imagine how stunned they were to hear that Cleveland was ranked in the bottom six of metropolitan areas nationwide.
Brian Sloan: It's no surprise at all.
Okay, maybe stunned was not the right word. Safety forces have long understood the benefits of communication interoperability - that is, being able to talk to other districts. Summit County began looking at an 800 megahertz radio system that could do that back in the 80s. Fairview Park Fire Chief David Simon says the need now is obvious.
David Simon: The perfect example is the 9/11 episode and the towers. The police were on one side, the firefighters on the other side, there's a wall separating them but they couldn't communicate with each other.
And Parma Heights Fire Chief Brian Sloan says it's not just major disasters, it's "a day to day problem."
Brian Sloan: For example, in the city of Parma Heights we had a fire on New Year's morning, about four in the morning. Parma is on a different radio system. Parma surrounds us in Parma Heights on three different sides and we're on two different radio systems.
Cuyahoga County has spent $12 million on updating radios and it's allowed them to communicate with the state. It's also bought some stopgap devices that allow a radio on one frequency to talk to one on another frequency - after they've been patched together. But Chief Sloan, says that's not enough. They need to build a fully integrated system operating from 25 radio towers.
Brian Sloan: We guesstimate to build a tower site at about one million dollars per. We're building 17 or 18 sites out of those 25, that is the plan. Then we got to lease some sites. But to put end user radios in everybody's hand, the total project, infrastructure and everything, is about $25 million.
The Manager for the Cuyahoga County Emergency Planning Committee, Murray Withrow says they've received $42 million in Homeland Security grants but they couldn't spend it all on communications.
Murray Withrow: Health departments, hospitals, police, fire, EMS, hazardous material teams, urban search and rescue teams. All of these disciplines bring their list of priorities and needs to our counter - and anti-terrorism committee.
So how is it Homeland Security's Scorecard rates Columbus in the top five and Cleveland in the bottom five? The head of Emergency Management for the city of Cleveland Norberto Colon notes that Columbus is almost a county in itself.
Norberto Colon: We have the challenges of having multiple communities when you're talking about 59 communities. Columbus was able to annex a lot of the communities so they had fewer radio systems. I believe a city like Columbus had less than a dozen radio systems that they need to make talk to each other. We're looking at 58.
Colon doesn't believe there are any political roadblocks to an integrated system but Chief Sloan, who heads up the radio committee for the County, is not so sure.
Brian Sloan: I think we have all the important players on board but I'd be lying to you if I said politics doesn't play a part in this. It's very difficult to get 59 political subdivisions on the same page and try to un-think some of the thought processes that got us here.
Committee Manager Withrow says everyone is on board, and notes they even have a completed study and a contract ready to go for Motorola to build the system once the money comes. And to ensure that the focus stays on radio interoperability, he and the others are hoping the Feds will earmark money just for communications.