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Commissioners with one of the spare radio devices to provide an alternate means of <br />communication. John Link suggested doing this next month since it is winter. <br />Commissioner Gordon made reference to the evacuation procedures and said <br />that Progress Energy might be asked to put more money in to help with this. She <br />understands that they are not putting in as much money as they should. She asked that <br />the staff research this. She would like the staff to do something concrete in the short <br />term. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would not want a crash course during an <br />incident. He said that his wife suggested having a dial out system, just like the school <br />systems, to alert people of an emergency. There needs to be an alert system. <br />Jack Ball said that there are technologies available, but it is a budgetary concern. <br />He will add it to the budget. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would like a demo of this technology before <br />the budget season. <br />Jack Ball said that they have been working collaboratively with municipal <br />partners and they are learning other avenues of making notifications. <br />Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the quick reference card and that the <br />two locations for shelters are listed but there are no phone numbers listed. Jack Ball <br />said that they would use the schools' phone numbers. If someone needed to contact the <br />shelter, they would contact EMS at 968-2050. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that with Hurricane Katrina, they needed a <br />coordinated effort or number to find people. Also, under pets, he thinks it says that <br />anyone is welcome to bring a pet, but that Animal Services will take care of it. He <br />suggested a rewording as follows: "Pets are welcome, but Animal Services will be on <br />hand to board and take care of them." He also suggested distributing this information in <br />the same format that was used to distribute the school district tax information. He also <br />suggested putting it in all of the tax bills every year and sending it to the schools for the <br />children to take home. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that they need to explore telephone book uses and <br />include a number in those. Any other way to get the information out other than the mail <br />will be good. <br />Chair Carey suggested going with option one and supplementing it with free <br />options for distribution. <br />Eric Griffin said that they did receive samples of a magnet style that incorporates <br />Commissioner Halkiotis' suggestion. This would be option 2. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis suggested getting these printing services locally. <br />Rod Visser made reference to the grants and said that part of the reason far the <br />success they have had with increasing their communications abilities has been the <br />regional approach that Wake, Durham, Orange, and other surrounding counties have <br />taken to apply jointly for grant funding. The next round of Homeland Security grant <br />funding is coming up, and there will be mare information about this soon. <br />Commissioner Foushee asked how many of the municipalities within the County <br />have compatibility with the VIPER system and Jack Ball said that they all would <br />eventually. He said that Chapel Hill Fire is ordering some radios and additional radios <br />are coming. The volunteer fire departments have been writing grants to get more radios. <br />The staff is also working on grants to provide as many 800 megahertz radios as <br />passible. They will need to discuss how best to distribute the radios based on need, <br />budgetary concerns, and local service to be provided. <br />Commissioner Foushee asked how long they would have to run a dual radio <br />system and Jack Ball said far at least another 22 months and they would probably run <br />VHF indefinitely. <br />