Road Technician

About the role

This position performs technical operations for the Emergency Communications Department, operating equipment to maintain the county’s public safety radios and emergency communications systems.

Responsibilities

• Maintain, troubleshoot, and repair county-owned public safety radio equipment and manage spare parts inventory.
• Program county-owned public safety radios to department/user needs and coordinate any necessary software updates.
• Manage assignments of radio identification numbers to specific devices, including coordination of activations and deactivations as county radio inventory changes.
• Provide radio equipment technical assistance to public safety answering points (dispatch centers) during updates or outages of county-provided equipment.
• Monitor status of support equipment at county tower sites and coordinate preventative maintenance or repairs as needed, including emergency power generators, HVAC systems, and safety lighting.
• Monitor status of microwave backhaul and associated radio equipment at county tower sites and coordinate preventative maintenance or repairs as needed.
• As requested by county and city code inspectors, perform tests of signal strength of the countywide radio system within buildings and provide reports of test results.
• Coordinate with departments and radio system managers to create and maintain talk groups for use by approved personnel.
• In coordination with the department Deputy/Director, manage applications, renewals, and licenses with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
• In coordination with the department Deputy/Director, advise departments on radio procurements and integration of first responders’ systems with Next Generation 911 (NG911) capabilities.

Requirements

• Associate’s Degree in radio electronics, IT, or related field.
• Five (5) years of work experience maintaining public safety radios.
• Any equivalent combination of education and experience.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of county radio equipment, devices, and subsystems.
• Knowledge of computer skills (hardware replacement, software updates, etc.).
• Knowledge of operating electronics test equipment.
• Knowledge of alarm reporting systems.
• Skill in documentation and record keeping.
• Ability to locate and retrieve archived 911/radio audio recordings.
• Ability to communicate with the public and public officials in a professional manner both orally and in writing.
• Ability to develop and maintain relationships with partnering agencies.
• Ability to maintain confidential information.
• Ability to analyze and prepare reports of research findings.
• Ability to read and interpret county codes and ordinances.

Additional requirements

• Must possess a valid Mississippi Driver’s License before employment and maintain licensure for the duration of employment in this position.
• Must complete courses for FEMA NIMS ICS Series within 1 year of employment.
• Must obtain FCC General License within 1 year of employment.
• This position has night/weekend on-call responsibilities at least one week per month.
• During a disaster event and/or a threat to public safety, this position is subject to extended duty hours.

Pay

$28.00 – $31.00 per hour ($58,240 – $64,480 annually)