Establishing the first interagency and uniform emergency communications system is the goal of a project now in the works, members of the Barton County Local Emergency Planning Committee learned at their first 2015 quarterly meeting Jan. 27.
The agenda included a presentation by Craig Divoll, outreach coordinator for the Kansas Office of Emergency Communications, on the new National Public Safety Broadband Network. This network is being developed by First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), an independent authority under the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
“The idea is to provide a single interoperable platform for emergency and daily public safety communications,” said Barton County Emergency Manager Amy Miller. There has already been a segment of the spectrum set aside to be dedicated to this network.
 FirstNet was created to provide emergency responders with the first high-speed wireless broadband network that is dedicated to public safety agencies across the United States, Miller said. Now, they must share public networks that can become choked during an emergency.
It will be used for sending data, video, images and text. The FirstNet network is to be designed to improve information available to responders and safety conditions for the responders and those impacted by disasters.
It is the intent for the network to be built allowing FirstNet devices to work anywhere on the network, not just within a single county, city or state boundary, Miller said.
“Barton County will be able to provide input on this project,” Miller said.  FirstNet is just now getting this organized at the state level.
As for when it will be up and running, “that is a little up in the air,” Divoll said. They are now working in every state to establish a plan that will eventually face approval from FirstNet then from the individual state governors.
At that point, “states will have the option to opt in or opt out,” Divoll said. But, not participating doesn’t exempt a state from establishing a network.
Such systems are mandated in all 50 states and U.S. territories. So, if a state says no, it must develop its own network that meets the minimal requirements of universality, total coverage, security and call capacity.
A grant funding the project is up in 2016, so Divoll said they hope to have state plans in place by then. Also, in the same time frame, they want to identify telecommunications carriers they can partner with to use existing infrastructure where possible.
 The state will also be mapped to spot coverage gaps.
The first phase should be established in the next couple of years and completed before 2022.
A single point of contact for the State of Kansas has been established to work with FirstNet, Divoll said. That individual will work with agencies at the county and city levels to gather input on local emergency responder needs for communications and data that can be provided by the network.
FirstNet was established by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 as an independent entity within the NTIA, and it will deploy and operate a nationwide public safety broadband network.  
The LEPC is sponsored by Barton County Emergency Management.