The Mathews Broadband Advisory Board is working with the county’s emergency services agencies to explore the possibility of expanding broadband in the county in conjunction with the agencies’ efforts to create a regional public safety radio network.
Last month, Sheriff Mark Barrick, Fire Chief Donnie Lewis, and Rescue Squad President Chris Buchanan received approval from the Mathews Board of Supervisors to join with King and Queen County in creating the new network. Barrick told the board the cost would be $1 million, and the board approved the request with instructions to begin searching for funding sources.
The system, as proposed by Harris Public Safety Communications, would be for Mathews to connect to King and Queen with a 5GB microwave backhaul connection, said broadband board consultant Jeff Beekhoo of Broadband Telecom Inc. during the broadband board’s meeting on March 2.
This would require the purchase of equipment at a cost of possibly $400,000. Beekhoo said that he had inste...