Communication breakdowns between the Nye County sheriff's personnel in the north and south county could be a thing of the past after county commissioners approved a new $2 million shortwave communications system with little discussion last week.

Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall said $1.48 million is being funded through an appropriation secured by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., following a request by Nye County Washington D.C. lobbyist Rick Spees.

Nye County will be on the hook for the remaining $555,042, of which $450,000 has already been set aside from the Payment Equal to Taxes the county receives from the U.S. Department of Energy for the land value of the Yucca Mountain project.

During a contentious discussion between Sheriff Tony DeMeo and Commissioner Candice Trummell back in July, the sheriff said the new system would allow all of the sheriff's telephone and Internet communication to be broadcast on the new network instead of using telephone lines. Other county departments could also piggyback onto the system, which Marshall said will have the bandwidth of 26 T-1 lines.

The system would provide a backup, DeMeo said, as telephone lines have gone dead before, including one occasion when 911 service was down in Tonopah.

Back in July DeMeo told commissioners, "We don't have any redundancy in the system. If Tonopah is down, Tonopah is down."

The sheriff recalled one instance during a power outage in Las Vegas when Nye County sheriff's dispatchers had to relay a message from Pahrump to Beatty using a solar-powered antenna. Beatty dispatchers then relayed the information to Tonopah.

Trummell's only concern Oct. 3 was about the payment schedule: 20 percent on award of the contract, 50 percent upon shipment, leaving the county only the remainder of the money to make sure the system is acceptable.

The county would use existing microwave dishes and repeater towers on Sawtooth Mountain, Gold Point and Brock Mountain to connect Pahrump, Beatty and Tonopah, with a spur to Warm Springs. Another repeater tower would be constructed on Robs Peak for better service to Amargosa Valley.

Commissioner Gary Hollis was meeting with Pahrump officials over the lease of Pahrump Fire Station No. 2 on Bell Vista Road to house the communications building. Trummell was leery about signing a 10-year lease agreement over concerns the town will charge a lot of rent money after that expires.

"They would not give a guarantee ... and that was a concern I had as well," Marshall said. He estimated the county could spend $100,000 to build the addition.

A five-year memorandum of understanding was also approved with the Southern Nevada Area Communications Council for $60 per radio, for 300 radios, or $18,000, to link up Nye County sheriff's deputies to Clark County law enforcement agencies via the Clark County microwave system.

Besides being able to share information with Las Vegas Metro, the regional communication network would be used for regional Homeland Security, the sheriff's department states in the funding request.

A $34,233 annual service contract was also approved with Motorola for the new system.

Trummell was still fuming over a recommendation by the sheriff's department that it contract with a consultant in Florida for $60,000 to acquire additional frequencies, which didn't fit. But Mary Walsh, Motorola representative, addressed Trummell's concerns about delays in acquiring frequencies, saying these type of projects can take up to two years.

"Some of the things we recently completed include things that will help with the frequency issues that Nye County has confronted lately. A lot of these things are unforeseeable, especially in the field of VHR band," she said.