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Contract - Radio Frequency Telemetry Contract
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher Clark, Union County Water - Water & Wastewater Operations, Director, 704-296-4215
ACTION REQUESTED:
Authorize the County Manager to 1) negotiate and execute an agreement substantially consistent with this agenda item, 2) exercise any renewal or extension term options set forth in the Agreement, and 3) terminate the Agreement if deemed in the best interest of the County, each in the County Manager's discretion.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
None.
BACKGROUND:
In order to efficiently manage our water and wastewater system spanning hundreds of miles, UC Water uses a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network to send information via radio signals that allow our operators to communicate with and remotely control our infrastructure. This is standard practice in the utilities industry. Per the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Union County Water currently operates the radio signals of the SCADA system as a secondary licensed user in certain spectrums of the radio band.
While UC Water has historically experienced no issues with signal interference, earlier this year our low power signal was overwhelmed by signal interference operating at a much stronger wattage which rendered our system inoperable. Working with communications specialists, UC Water discovered that it was utilizing a radio frequency that is located on a specific spectrum licensed to Choctaw Holdings, LLC ("Choctaw"). Union County was licensed by the FCC as a secondary permitted user on this frequency, while Choctaw is licensed as the primary user. A secondary licensee cannot broadcast harmful interference to the primary license holder of any radio spectrum and must accept interference from the primary license holder in accordance with FCC regulations. This past April, Choctaw began operating on the frequency that Union County Water had been using which caused complete signal loss and shutdown UC...
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