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New Public Safety Radio System On Schedule

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-927921.mp3

Kansas City, MO – Kansas City fire chief Smokey Dyer gave a progress report on the city's transition to a new public safety radio system Wednesday, and in the process put in a plug for renewing the sales tax that made it possible.

Dyer told a council committee that the new radio system is on schedule, and will be the first of its kind. He says Kansas City is the first area to organize a communication system that will encompass the entire metropolitan area and eventually two states.

He says Kansas City will be the third major entity to join the system, which was coordinated by the Mid-America Regional Council. The Independence system and the Johnson County, Kansas system are already on line, so when we turn on in the Spring, the regional system will be fully operational.

Dyer added that the old radio system was miserably outdated, and the new one would not have been possible without the quarter-cent public safety sales tax, which is up for renewal by the voters in November.

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