Memorandum 16-149 Homeland Security Program Grant Award

Memorandum 16-149

TO:                       Mayor and the City Council                                 

FROM:                 Jenny Carroll, Special Projects & Communications Coordinator

THROUGH:       Katie Koester, City Manager

DATE:                  September 20, 2016

SUBJECT:         2016 Homeland Security Program Grant Award

Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management recently announced recipients of FY2016 State Homeland Security Program grant funds.  The City of Homer was awarded $343,363.40 for two projects related to upgrading the City’s radio communication system.

$47,363.40 was awarded to relocate two City of Homer repeaters (one of the primary fire department repeaters and one of the primary police department repeaters) for higher placement on the Homer Spit to improve radio communication performance and reach.

$296,000.00 was awarded to replace the public safety radio system dispatch consoles with new units.  This Homeland Security award is timely.  The current consoles will time out of their manufacturer support in 2018.  After support ends, a critical parts failure in dispatch could possibly shut Homer’s public safety communication system down.  Additionally, FCC is in the process of implementing another round of narrowing bandwidth requirements.  All communication system components will need to be upgraded by 2020 to maintain compliance and interoperability with other Alaska-based agencies.

FY2016 State Homeland Security Program funding greatly assists in maintaining the integrity of the 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.

RECOMMENDATION:

Introduce Ordinance 16-47 to accept and appropriate the FY2016 State Homeland Security Program Grant.