Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: January 23, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 5, <br />SUBJECT: Acceptance of Grant Allocation from the Law Enforcement Terrorism <br />Prevention Program <br />DEPARTMENT: Emergency Management PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT (S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Memorandum of Agreement Kent McKenzie, 968-2050 <br />PURPOSE: To approve acceptance of State Managed Federal Homeland Security grant funds <br />totaling $1,814,000 for interoperable communications infrastructure and equipment, and to <br />authorize the State Highway Patrol to expend these grant funds to construct communications <br />infrastructure for Orange County to benefit public safety agencies and the people of the County. <br />BACKGROUND: The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded the <br />State of North Carolina funding for equipment, exercises, and training through the FY 2004 Law <br />Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program. The State administers the grant funding to local <br />agencies to improve domestic preparedness for law enforcement through the purchase of law <br />enforcement equipment and supplies. <br />The Orange County Department of Emergency Management applied for a grant, on behalf of all <br />law enforcement agencies within the County, to develop two radio tower sites. Engineers with <br />the State Highway Patrol and the County's consultant CTA Communications have identified <br />three locations that will provide appropriate coverage: The state-owned communications tower <br />on Occoneechi Mountain in Hillsborough, a state-owned communications tower on Cane <br />Mountain in southern Alamance County, and a Piedmont Electric Membership Co-op tower in <br />the northern part of Orange County on Hurdle Mills Road. These tower sites would allow public <br />safety agencies to easily communicate with each another during routine incidents and unusual <br />events through the State Highway Patrol's Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency <br />Responders (VIPER) project. <br />Simultaneously with Orange County's application, the Chapel Hill Police Department also <br />applied to the State for FY2004 LETPP funding to construct a VIPER radio tower site on the <br />UNC campus in Chapel Hill, to further improve interoperable communication capability. Chapel <br />Hill was awarded a total of $832,500 for the. VIPER system.