HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01041994 - IO.7 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 1 .0.-7. sae;sE__. of
s Contra
FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE COSta
a s
December 13, 1993
County
DATE: rq_couN'�
SUBJECT: REPORT ON ACTIVITIES OF THE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
ADVISORY GROUP
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1 . ACCEPT the attached annual report from the Emergency
Communications Advisory Body (ECRB) and commend the ECAB for
the progress they have made in improving and coordinating the
emergency communications within Contra Costa County.
.2 . CONFIRM that the membership of the ECAB is as set forth in the
attached membership roster and DIRECT the Clerk of the Board
to insure that the "Maddy Book" reflects these changes .
3 . EXTEND the life of the ECAB for two years, through December
31, 1995, and ` DIRECT the ECAB to continue to make annual
reports to the Internal Operations Committee in December of
1994 and December of 1995 and for, this purpose REFER this
matter to the 1994 Internal Operations Committee.
4 . AUTHORIZE the Director of General Services to prepare and
issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a consultant who would
develop a long-range plan to transform the County' s microwave
system from an analogue to a digital system and make further
recommendations to the Board of Supervisors . at the time that
the RFP' s have been evaluated, a funding source has been
identified, and it is timely to award a contract for such .
consultation services .
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD ITT E
APPROVE _OTHER
SIGNATURES
ACTION OF BOARD ON january 4 , 1994 17 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. c
ATTESTED /
Contact: PHIL BATCH 00R,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
cc: See Page 2 . SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
BY DEPUTY
I .O.-7
-2-
5. REQUEST the ECAB to study and then report to the Board of
Supervisors on whether there are sufficient controls and
procedures in place in Contra Costa County to insure that a
breakdown in communications does not occur as it did in the
Polly Klaas kidnapping when the all points bulletin was
broadcast on one frequency while the law enforcement officers
who were engaged with her alleged kidnapper were unaware that
a kidnapping had occurred and did not have the benefit of the
description of the kidnapper because they were monitoring a
different frequency.
BACKGROUND:
The Board of Supervisors created an Emergency Communications
Advisory Body in 1990 and charged it with returning to the Internal
Operations Committee with recommendations for steps that are needed
to improve inter-agency emergency communications within Contra
Costa County.
The attached annual report from the ECAB outlines the progress
which has been made in improving the emergency communications
within the County. The members of the ECAB are to be congratulated
for each of these milestones in insuring that our emergency
communications are of the highest quality and provide the best
possible protection for the general public and the emergency
response agencies in the County.
The private sector wishes to use fixed microwave facilities. These
private sector licensees are being required by the Federal
Communications Commission to buy out public agency microwave
systems . This will provide a one-time opportunity to upgrade our
microwave system at little or no cost to the County or the
emergency response agencies . In order to take advantage of this
opportunity, it is necessary that the County retain a consultant
who can outline for the County a long-range plan for converting the
County' s microwave system from analogue to digital . Once the
Federal Communications Commission issues licenses to the private
sector, the County will have two years to negotiate with the
private sector licensees or the opportunity will be lost. In order
to take advantage of this opportunity, we need to have a long-range
plan in place.
We are also concerned that our emergency communications system does
not have the same fault which appears to have occurred in Sonoma
County where the Sheriff ' s deputies who were talking with Richard
Davis did not know that the Polly Klaas kidnapping had occurred and
did not have the description of the alleged kidnapper because they
were monitoring one radio frequency while the all points bulletin
and description were being broadcast on another frequency. We are
asking that the ECAB look into this problem and report to the Board
on the extent to which our emergency communications systems and
procedures prevent this type of problem from taking place in this
County.
cc: County Administrator
Fire Chief Allen Little
Warren E. Rupf, Sheriff-Coroner
Barton J. Gilbert, Director of General Services
Janet Grenslitt, OES; Chair, ECAB
MEMBERSHIP ROSTER
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY BODY
County Administrator's Office Animal Services Department
Scott Tandy - 646-4087 Ted Brasier - 646-2935
Administration Building 4849 Imhoff Place
651 Pine St„ 11th Floor Martinez, CA 94553
Martinez, CA 94553
County Police Chiefs' Association Sheriff-Coroner's Office
Chief Ted Barnes - 724-8955 Dennis Matzen - 646-4463
Pinole Police Department 40 Glacier Drive
880 Tennent Avenue Martinez, CA 94553
Pinole, CA 94564
Disaster Council General Services Dept/
Larry Kaye Bart Gilbert -313-7100
558 Rock Oak Road 1220 Morello Ave.
Walnut Creek, CA 94598 Martinez, CA 94553
Health Services Department Office of Emergency Services
Art Lathrop ---646-4690 Janet Grenslitt, Chair, 646-4461
Emergency Medical Services 50 Glacier Drive
50 Glacier Drive Martinez, CA 94553
Martinez, CA 94553
Emergency Medical Care Committee County Fire Chiefs Asssociation:
Linda Tiller - 676-7979 Alan Nielsen - 930-5550
American Medical Response Contra Costa County FPD
PO Box 7780 2010 Geary Road
Fremont, CA 94537-7780 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
County Fire Chiefs' Association Public Works
Chris Suter - 838-6606 Patricia McNamee - 313-2303
San Ramon Valley FPD 255 Glacier Drive
1500 Bollinger Canyon Rd. Martinez, CA 94553
San Ramon, CA 94583
City/County Emergency Coordinators CAER Group (Community
Capt. Neil Stratton - 943-5844 Awareness Emergency Response
Walnut Creek Police Dept. Dave Dorman - 231-1066
1666 N. Main St. ICI Americas, Inc.
Walnut Creek, CA 94596 1200 S. 47th St.,
Richmond, CA 94804
OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICESContra Gary Brown
DIVISION OF THE COUNTY Director
ADMINISTRATOR'S OFFICE Costa
50 Glacier Drive J
Martinez,California 94553-4896 County
(510)228-5000
(510)646-4461
Fax (510)646-1120 "-
o' a:;amn
fq'•C-li i
TO: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
FROM: Emergency Communications Advi or qy SECAB)
DATE: December 13, 1993
SUBJECT: Third Year Report
Specific Request(s) or Recommendations(s) & Background & Justification
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Acknowledge receipt of the third-year report from the Emergency Communications
Advisory Body on accomplishments and the status of projects since ECAB was
established in December, 1990.
Confirm the membership of the Emergency Communications Advisory Body (ECAB) as
is set forth on the attached roster (Bart Gilbert replaces Bob Guaspari, retired; Patricia
McNamee replaces Maurice Mitchell, retired, and Dennis Matzen is now the representative
for the Sheriff-Coroner).
Extend ECAB's term another three years, to sunset effective December 31, 1996, in light
of the critical nature of the Federal Communication Commissions's (FCC's) proposed
changes for public safety radio licensees, as well as ECAB's pending projects.
Coordination among city and county emergency agencies needs to occur prior to
frequency allocations and radio purchases, which we will all have to make within the next
three to ten years as mandated by the FCC.
A Request For Proposal needs to be developed and a consultant retained (costs will be
reimbursable) to develop a plan to replace our county microwave system and to negotiate
with the private sector. A critical one-time window of opportunity exists within the next few
years to negotiate a paid replacement and technological update of our county microwave
system.
1
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS:
On September 28, 1992, the Board of Supervisors approved the 1992 status report on
the activities of ECAB and requested that ECAB make a further progress report on each
of the issues,in our 1992 report, plus any others which came to our attention, to the 1993
Internal Operations Committee. ECAB's issues fall into four basic groups; emergency
communications between city and county Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs),
emergency communications at the field level, inter-county issues and outside-county
issues such as communications with state agencies and federal regulations. In each of
these groups, both accomplishments and areas needing further attention are listed.
Emergency Communications Among City&County Emergency Operations Centers
1. Centrex Lines Installed. 16 of our 18 cities have installed county Centrex lines.
These Centrex lines are protected by Pacific Bell's essential services listing, so that
even if the majority of phones are jammed, dial tone will be provided for outgoing
.calls. Needed: Training of personnel, testing of the lines, and encouragement to
use these lines for daily business so that they will be used during emergencies.
2. Establishment of a Local Government Radio channel ("124" 45.82 Mhz) as the
disaster coordination channel for EOC to EOC communications. All 18
cities have agreed to install radios with channel L24 (17 cities currently have their
radios, and 8 cities have them installed). The county provided many cities with
previously-used, single-channel radios at a minimal cost ($100), as well as paid the
licensing fees ($1800), in order to provide this vital link and backup to the Centrex
phone line. Needed: Installation in the remaining 10 cities and a regular testing
program.
3. Installation of permanent RACES equipment. Cities have been encouraged
to permanently install RACES ham radio equipment. RACES emergency personnel
provide a vital link between field personnel, shelters, and other emergency areas
as well as an EOC backup to phones and radios. Our RACES inventory shows
12 cities and all hospitals in Contra Costa with permanent equipment.
Needed: Continued encouragement and monitoring of available funding sources
(OES sponsored four cities which received FEMA RACES equipment grants on a
50% reimbursement basis).
4. Fire Channel F33 (33.48 Mhz) installed in city EOCs. Fire channel F33 is to
be used by fire service representatives at city EOCs. 8 cities in the Contra Costa
Fire District (plus 2 fire and 2 police field communication units) have operational
F33 radios. Needed: Installation in the remaining cities and fire dispatch centers,
and a regular testing program.
Emergency Communications Issues at the Field Level
5. Replacement of the microwave tower at 40 Glacier Drive, Martinez. Lease
negotiations with Cellular One were completed in time to move equipment and
become operational within the FCC's guidelines for licensing.
6. Communications equipment (cross-band repeaters) built and installed which
allows police and sheriff field units to communicate. Until last year, only
east county Police field units could communicate with Sheriff field units. A repeater
was built and installed in Richmond which allows west county Police/Sheriff field
communications, thus preventing confusion and multiple command posts at
incident sites. Needed: 2 repeaters for central county are planned, one in Walnut
Creek'and one at Sheriff dispatch in Martinez.
7. Establishment of the CALCORD (CA On-Scene Emergency Coordination
Radio System - 156.075 Mhz) as the interagency command channel at
incident sites. Most frequently CALCORD is needed to communicate among
agencies at Haz/Mat incidents. Currently, all chief officers of ConFire, many police
departments, both county haz/mat emergency response vehicles, and both
American Medical Response (AMR-ambulance) supervisor vehicles have and use
the CALCORD channel. CALCORD was used at the Rhone Poulenc chemical fire
in 1992, at the tri-county haz/mat exercise at Chevron and at the Buchanan Field
airport exercise in 1993. Needed: Continued use at incidents and exercises until
all key emergency personnel are familiar with CALCORD. Encouragement to all
emergency agencies to provide for CALCORD use; purchase if necessary.
8. Establishment of Local Government Channel ("L-2" 45.44 Mhz) as the
interagency field personnel channel at incident sites, and direction to .the
county General Services Director regarding channel L-2. The General Services
Director was directed to add channel L-2 to new radios as old radios are replaced,
and where feasible, to reprogram existing radios with L-2 capability (cost to be
borne by each department). Field personnel from different departments and
jurisdictions can then communicate with each other at an incident site.
Inter-County Emergency Communications
9. Dialogue begun with the Communications Center (dispatch) Managers
Association regarding emergency and disaster communications. Most
communication centers depend on either ConFire or Sheriff dispatch facilities for
their backup capability. After the General Chemical incident, the County
Administrator directed the Sheriff to submit a proposal for a command vehicle,
communications vehicle (which would provide some backup to Sheriff's dispatch)
and replacement of their current (old) radios., Needed: funding sources for
equipment, hardware installation; .on-going input, training and awareness of
dispatch center personnel.
10. Emergency Medical communications are being upgraded to link dispatch
centers, ambulance and police departments through the All County Criminal
Justice Information Network (ACCJIN) (funded by Measure H). The county
MEDARS system has been upgraded from 2 to 4 channels, and computer dispatch
- to computer dispatch (CAD to CAD) links are being established among AMR
(ambulance), fire dispatch and all city police departments. Needed: Standards for
electronic mapping need to be established county-wide to aid in disaster use of
ACCJIN, and ability of multi-jurisdictions to communicate exact locations of
incidents.
11. Survey conducted regarding dispatch centers' emergency communications
connections with the private sector. Several requests have been made by
private sector agencies to install direct communications with the county EOC, using
county EOC/city EOC systems, such as radios with channel L-24. Needed: ECAB
is determining where the gaps are and will make recommendations to the Disaster
Council and Board of Supervisors regarding private sector participation.
Outside-County Emergency Communications
1
12. State OES satellite system link installed at 40 Glacier, Martinez. State OES
provided satellite hardware to each county and several state agencies through a
FEMA grant (after the state microwave system failed during the Loma Prieta
earthquake). Needed: A system directory and training manual from State OES.
13. Monitoring of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Regulations.
Letters of protest were sent by the Board of Supervisors to the FCC and to the
County's Congressional delegation, and then by Congressman Miller to the FCC,
regarding the tremendous potential financial burden created by the FCC's
proposed regulations in "PR Docket No. 92-235".
14. Development of a plan to replace the county analogue microwave system
with a digital system. An investigation of the opportunity provided by the
FCC's guidelines for local government public safety radio licensees to negotiate
with private sector "personal communications service" (PCS) providers to replace
our outmoded equipment at little or no cost. The approximate $100,000 in ACCJIN
network annual phoneline costs could be redirected to the microwave system if it
were digitized. Needed: A Request For Proposal needs to be developed in order
to hire a consultant to develop a long-range plan for changing the county
microwave system to digital. Consultant fees are reimbursable under the FCC
regulations. The county will have two years from the date that the FCC issues the
licenses to negotiate with the private sector, or the opportunity may be lost.
BACKGROUND:
On December 18, 1990 the Board of Supervisors created an Emergency Communications
Advisory Body (ECAB) and charged it with returning to the Internal Operations Committee
with recommendations for steps that are needed to improve inter-agency emergency
communications in Contra Costa.County. ECAB met initially in March 1991 and regularly
(approximately monthly) since.
ECAB reported to the Internal Operations Committee Nov.25, 1991, Sept. 28, 1992 and
Dec. 13, 1993. Board Orders were issued regarding these reports on Dec. 3, 1991, Oct.
6, 1992 and June 15, 1993 (regarding the FCC proposed regulations). At the Board of
Supervisors' direction, ECAB made a presentation to the City/County Relations
Committee on November 19, 1992, and a request was made at that time for ECAB to
report to the Mayors' Conference. Janet Grenslitt, elected Chair of ECAB, made a
presentation to the March 4, 1993 Mayors' Conference.
Of primary concern to members of the ECAB is maintaining the progress we have made
over the past three years in communications issues, such as standardization of frequency
use through the CALCORD radio channel for field command personnel and through the
L-24 radio channel for EOC-to EOC communication. The FCC regulations pose the most
sweeping changes, and demand scrutiny and monitoring if our county is to avoid fiscal
catastrophe due to public safety radio system mandates.
In addition, several of the recently-set standards and systems need implementation,
including training and regular testing programs established. ECAB is also serving as a
solution-oriented forum for issues arising out of emergency incidents, such as the 911
overload during the General Chemical release in Richmond.
Our projects and recommendations in the last three years have been at little or no cost
(with the exception of the replacement of Sheriff radios on a rotating basis). ECAB's
objective is to find economically feasible solutions through recycling of equipment,
inventory of available resources and non-duplication of purchases by emergency service
providers. We recommend that the ECAB continue its efforts for the next three years.A