Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/01/2003, C4 - GRANT APPLICATION FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM REPLACEMENT COUI"1CllMam,DW 4-1-`03 acjeyJ� nba Y�epoM Ice Number CITY OF SAN LUIS OBI S PO FROM: Wolfgang Knabe, Fire Chief Bill Statler, Director of Finance ; Prepared By: Viv R. Dilts, Administrative Analyst Steve Schmidt, Telecommunications Supervisor SUBJECT: GRANT APPLICATION FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM REPLACEMENT CAO RECOMMENDATION Authorize staff to submit a grant application in the amount of $750,000 to the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program to assist in funding the replacement of the City's emergency response communications system. DISCUSSION Background State and federal grants are occasionally offered to assist local governments with the financial impacts associated with daily operations and/or mandated programs. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is one of these programs. The purpose of this program is to award one-year grants directly to fire departments to enhance their abilities with respect to fire and fire- related hazards. This program seeks to support departments that lack the tools and resources with respect to fire and fire related hazards. The primary goal of the program is to provide assistance to meet fire departments' firefighting needs. In fiscal year 2002, Congress appropriate $360 million to carry out the activities of this Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. The program this year is expected to be appropriated $680 million dollars for the same purpose. The grant has four program areas: 1. Fire Operations and Firefighter Safety Program 2. Fire Prevention Program 3. Emergency Medical Services Program 4. Firefighting Vehicles Acquisition Program Grant Request We are requesting approval to apply for funding assistance in replacing the City emergency response communications system under the Fire Operations and Fire Safety Program. The CAA Grant Application for Emergency Response Communications System Replacement Page 2 existing radio and paging system have been pieced together for the past 20 to 30 years. They no longer meet our needs, yet are critical to the basic mission of the entire organization. The 2001-05 Information Technology Strategic Plan adopted by the Council in March 2001 recognized this problem, and identified upgrading existing conventional radio equipment and replacing dispatch consoles as one its highest priorities. Because of this, the current 2001-05 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) includes this project. What Are the Specific Requests? 1. Radio Infrastructure: $345,000. Many components are over 20 years old, parts are no longer available and service has become problematic. The Fire Department relies heavily on the radio system for day-to-day operations. The system is essential during major emergencies and consistently fails during a heavy rain. A main component of the system is the South Hills radio repeater site. With the advent of cell phones, we share this site with a large group of users. We are constantly encountering interference problems as our equipment frequencies become co-mingled with other frequencies in use on the hill. 2. Portable Radios:$60,000. The Fire Department's portable radios are a critical component in keeping firefighters safe. Unfortunately, our current radios all vary in age, make and model. Some parts are no longer available. The incident call-load has reached a point where a separate channel must be used to manage multiple calls. The current portable radios do not allow the company officers to easily switch from one frequency to another frequency, or monitor several frequencies at one time. Additionally, a change in industry standards and FCC rules (referred to as Project 25) will require radio users to use less bandwidth. At that point, existing radio equipment will be obsolete. 3. Base Station Radios: $60,000. The base station radios at the four Fire Stations and Police Station are between 12 and 25 years old, and need to be replaced. 4. Dispatch Console: $285,000.. As calls for service have steadily increased over the last decade and technological advances have allowed a wider and more vaned use of the computer-aided dispatch system, the ability of the current system to handle the workload has been taxed. The existing Motorola Centracom II radio consoles are technologically obsolete and technical support for the system is no longer available. The current consoles do not have an independent power supply and temporarily loose functionality when a power outage occurs and before the stand-by generator kicks in. Continued dependence on this system risks the loss of the ability to communicate with field units and the inherent risk it carries for the safety of the citizens. This is even more significant in the current world situation as it relates to homeland security. The City needs at least six consoles, which could cost up to $600,000. Because of the maximum federal contribution ($750,000), we are only requesting $285,000 of this amount for consoles. li`'I Grant Application for Emergency Response Communications System Replacement Page 3 FISCAL IMPACT If the City were to receive grant funding from the Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program, we would have to match the Federal grant funds equal to 10% ($75,000) of the total project cost. Because of the mission-critical nature of these improvements, funding for them is included in the preliminary CIP for 2003-05. As such, the 10% matching requirement would reflect a significant savings over our current funding plans. ALTERNATIVES The Council could decide not to pursue the grant monies. Given this unique opportunity to significantly reduce General Fund costs, this is not recommended. GJCouncil Agenda Reports/CAR-2003 FEMA Grant Program C4