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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 16, 2010 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Public Safety Communications Improvements <br />DEPARTMENT: Emergency Services PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Emergency Services Reserve Capital <br />Project Ordinance <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Frank Montes de Oca, 919-245-6100 <br />Craig Blackwood, 919-245-6100 <br />PURPOSE: To consider an allocation from the Emergency Services Reserve Capital Project to <br />update and improve the Public Safety Communications infrastructure. <br />BACKGROUND: In January 2009 the Orange County Emergency Services E911 Center <br />relocated to 510 Meadowlands Drive. Following several years of planning, the project <br />culminated in a successful transition from a conventional system consisting of various aging <br />components and subsystems to 800 MHz technology. This system is the critical communication <br />link between the County and all emergency first response units within Orange County and to <br />neighboring partners in adjacent counties. <br />This system utilizes towers to transmit radio signals from the E911 Center throughout the <br />system. Currently there is no redundancy in the tower configuration. Should one of the towers <br />malfunction or fail catastrophically, an alternative link must be available to maintain system <br />integrity. Installing directional antennas on each back-up radio located in the E911 Center will <br />provide connection to these individual towers and regain communication with the agencies on <br />that tower if it becomes isolated. The cost to purchase back-up radio antennas is $10,000. <br />Another integral part of the 800 MHz radio system is the field units operating from portable and <br />mobile radios. Since the system's startup, several changes have taken place including the need <br />to fully activate the system's "mayday" feature. This allows firefighters and first responders to <br />activate the button to summon help if they become trapped or come under fire and cannot call <br />for help using verbal communication. This requires portable and mobile radios in the system to <br />be re-programmed. This action will update every 800 MHz radio in the County system with <br />needed radio template changes and implement the emergency "mayday" button feature. The <br />cost for the 800 MHz radio programming is $25,000. <br />