Memorandum 17-124 City Radio Communication System Upgrade

Memorandum 17-124

TO:                        Mayor and the City Council                                   

FROM:                 Jenny Carroll, Special Projects & Communications Coordinator

THROUGH:        Katie Koester, City Manager

DATE:                   September 20, 2017

SUBJECT:          2017 Homeland Security Program Grant Award

Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management recently announced recipients of FY2017 State Homeland Security Program grant funds.  The City of Homer was awarded $92,552.00, which fully funds one project and partially funds two projects related to upgrading the City’s radio communication system.

$15,282.00 was awarded to purchase and install two emergency backup dispatch radios. Backup communication capability makes our communications system resilient, and our emergency responders more readily able to respond when other elements in the primary communication system fail due to an emergency event.

$44,770.00 was awarded to replace two City of Homer repeaters. This Homeland Security award is timely.  The current repeaters need to be upgraded to maintain compliance and interoperability with other Alaska-based agencies.

$32,500.00 was awarded to begin replacing the Homer Police Department Mobile Radio units.  These units are in heavy use on a daily basis by the police officers to sustain field communications in support of operations.  The units currently in use are fourteen years old, are aging out of their expected function life span and aging out of their manufacturer support. 

State Homeland Security Program funding greatly assists in maintaining the integrity of City of Homer’s operational communication for local incident response and broader emergency response in the event of a natural or manmade disaster.   Funding is dependent the City Council formally accepting the grant award.