(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of articles updating Barton County government projects for 2011.)2011 was a busy year for Barton County Communications, beginning with the arrival of a new department director, and continuing to the initial phases of major remodeling, according to information from Director Doug Hubbard.Hubbard came on staff at the end of last February, coming to the department “from Claflin and has been involved in emergency services in Barton County since 1974 as a firefighter, EMT/Paramedic and actually worked as a dispatcher in 1993 for a short period.”And the work for the year was already laid out when Hubbard arrived, he noted in a report he recently presented to the county commission.“Upon arrival, Hubbard found himself in the middle of an on going infrastructure upgrade which included all new radio repeaters, three new tower sites and an FCC mandated radio re-programming project to ‘narrow band’ all radios in Barton County. “Barton County Communications worked with all emergency service departments in the county to assist and coordinate these changes.“The second major project for 2011 was to replace aging dispatch consoles. “As of the end of 2011, the equipment has been ordered and should be in service by late February, 2012.”Hubbard also added to the department staff during the year, as he “implemented an updated training program for ongoing training of current employees along with new hires.