David Godfrey, 65, is a Lockport native who learned about computers while a Marine. He succeeded Kyle Andrews as the Niagara County legislator from the Wilson district in 2010 and has become an advocate connecting counties.

Godfrey and Lynne Johnson, a legislator from Orleans County, met at a New York State Association of Counties meeting last fall and began discussing the narrow-banding mandate.

Those discussions evolved into NORA, the Niagara Orleans Regional Alliance. The Niagara County Legislature voted to form the Alliance, and Orleans County lawmakers are expect to do the same on Feb. 8.

Godfrey, a gradate of Lockport High School, enjoyed mathematics and working with electricity. The Marines put the West End  boy from Charlotte Cross school through specialty computer training and biometrics. He worked at Harrison Radiator in Lockport and General Dynamics in Connecticut.

He married a Wilson girl, Julie McCoy, and now lives on Lake Road near the border of Burt. He is the past president of the Wilson Fire Co. and a member of the Wilson Lions Club.

“I like connecting people and I think that’s what I’m good at,” he said.

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QUESTION: How did the idea of NORA come about?

ANSWER: I met Lynne Johnson at the NYSAC conference and started talking about all of our challenges. She chairs the Community Safety Committee of Orleans County, which I sit on over here. We started talking about our radio projects, the FCC mandate, the narrow-banding. (An upgrade to the counties’ emergency communication systems that has been mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. FCC set a deadline of Jan. 1, 2013, for all municipalities to get their radio systems off the wide band onto the narrow band, under threat of stiff fines.)

We all had to build towers. We have to put towers on our eastern border and they have to put (towers) on their western border. Gee, why don’t we build a tower up north and you can co-locate and you can build your tower down south and, if we need it, we can co-locate down there. We’ll save half million a piece.

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Q: Where would the joint towers be built?

A: The Barker Fire Co. property. It would be southwest corner of Orleans County, but right now, it looks like our coverage won’t need that.

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Q: Do you need the same type of towers?

A: Ours would be 150 feet and they may need 300 feet. To co-locate, the concrete base might be thicker and steel a lot stronger because their antennas have to be a lot taller.

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Q: How far along is the work?

A: We have had project conferences. There’s a lot of permitting that has to be done. We’re doing ours and they’re talking to their technical people. They are choosing Harris and we have Motorola.

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Q: Is two different companies going to be a problem?

A: No. It’s all the same type of radio systems and entirely different frequencies. We could use the towers for co-location for other services.

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Q: Niagara County already has a membership in the Niagara Erie Regional Coalition. Is NORA different?

A: Orleans County is a lot more similar to us than Erie County. We have farmland and a common shore line. The IOC (International Joint Commission) is meeting in March. We have the opportunity to work together and defend our shorelines. The  plan is calling for higher and lower water levels, which is not good. Wilson has the largest naturally protected harbor on the south shore of Lake Ontario.

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Q: What’s the goal of NORA?

A: The whole idea is a common voice. We have a lot of good synergy between these two counties, the whole undercurrent of working together is a unified voice across multiple counties.

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Q: Could it spread, considering narrow-banding?

A: Think about Genesee, Wyoming counties. They’ve got to do radios. Everyone is in the same boat when it comes to the mandate. Down the road, we could have the whole eight counties to have a unified voice to Albany and Washington.

The ultimate goal is to identify the commonalties and the common problems and unify that common voice. Stand up for the people. That’s what it’s all about.

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Q: What are other issues NORA could address?

A: The burden of Medicaid, the IDA initiative as to the distribution of funds, the air base, tourism ... agriculture is high on the list.

We need to fight for our fair share of those dollars so it’s not funneled into one municipality. Rochester and Buffalo are very powerful.

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Q: How can NORA save money?

A: There’s the possibility of power purchasing. You’ve got salt, you’ve got your fuels, your refuse collections. Work together and get a better contract by negotiating for those services, the taxpayer wins.

We need to keep our jobs here. It’s as important as bringing new ones in. The challenge is to keep our businesses and families here and give the breaks we can.

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Q: Any roadblocks?

A: Keeping the continuity of the group as people come and go in jobs. Increase the diversity of members and bring key business leaders to the table with us. It needs to remain non-political, non-partisan. You always want to stay on that neutral ground.

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Q: Those are high goals. How will you do it?

A: My favorite quote is from Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, ext. 6246.