Residents will get to vote Saturday on whether the town can install a new radio communications system that volunteer firefighters say is needed.
The town will ask voters at a 10 a.m. meeting in Mallory Town Hall to approve spending $147,000 on a new “simulcast” system and a lease agreement for space on a nearby cell tower.
Chris Fuchs, a captain with the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department, said the current communications system only covers about 30 percent of the town — or a roughly two-mile radius around the fire department. The new system will cover 95 percent of the town, and will make “responses that much better and more efficient.”
“This will make things safer for all our responders,” Fuchs said, adding that it will aid storm cleanups and emergency management.