R2006-98 AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF AGREEMENT

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City Council Memo #06-40 To: Mayor Paul Osborne and the City Council From: Steve Garman, City Manager � � James A. Anderson, Chief or Police i.� David R. Slade,Jr.,Deputy Chief of�'fllice..�,`> � � Re: Contract Allowing Macon County Health Department Access to the City's 800 MHz Radio System Date: June 29, 2006 Background- The City of Decatur owns and operates a regional 800 megahertz (MHz) radio system for public safety and public works. The City of Decatur Police, Fire and Public Works, as well as the Macon County Sheriff and the smaller police departments in the county utilize this radio system. Through the radio system console in the Emergency Communications Center, located in the Law Enforcement Center, all agencies that are dispatched through this system can be patched to each other to create a system of county wide communications interoperability. In the event of a large scale incident, such as the one just mitigated in Harristown at the Buckeye Pipeline, all public safety and works can be handled on one highly dependable radio system. This puts the city in a strong position for effective communications in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. The Macon County Health Department has requested a talk group on the 800MHz radio system as part of the overall public safety response group. Agencies using the City's radio system are charged $3.91 per radio,per month. These fees offset the annual maintenance agreement with Motorola. Possible Areas of Concern- The radio system has been tested and with a total of just under 800 radios on the system, it is no where near capacity. The Macon County Health Department is requesting that five (5)portable radios, that they have purchased, be allowed to create a talk group that will be interoperable with the rest of the public safety community. Communications within the Health Department and the interoperability option could be vital in the event of a biological event such as an influenza pandemic. The Health Department will purchase and maintain their radios and will accept the responsibility for security of their talk group. In the event of a lost or stolen radio, the radio can be deactivated from system by the Communications Center. Adding these additional radios will not impact the radio system. Allowing the Health Department access to the system is positive step in developing and maintaining intergovernmental cooperation and making the communications between emergency responders more efficient.