3.5. SR 04-18-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City o! ERiver REQUEST FOR ACTION TO ITEM NUMBER Ci Counc$ 3,5_ . AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY Consent Aril 18, 2011 T. ohn Gunton ham, Fire Chief ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By Outdoor Warning Siren Upgrade Tim Simon, Finance Director REVIEWED BY Lori ohnson, Ci Administrator ACTION REQUESTED Approve proceeding with outdoor warning siren controller and radio upgrades. BACKGROUNDIDISCUSSION In December, 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that all non-Federal radio licenses operating 24 kHz systems must migrate to more efficient 12.5 kHz (naxxowband) channels by January 1, 2013. This requirement is affecting most public safety radios systems, including the frequency that activates the City's nineteen (19) outdoor warning sirens. In order fox the Ciry's outdoor warning sirens to be naxxowband compliant, all of the radio receivers and control boazds must be changed at each site. Since this change affects each individual site and is quite a large task, the Division of Emergency Management has been working since 2010 on developing the best approach to implement this changeover. During the course of evaluating options for carrying out this project, the decision was made to transition to a digital two-way controller at each location. At the present time, each siren is only capable of receiving aone-way analog signal. In other words, when a specific code is broadcasted over the radio frequency, the sirens all activate at once. There is no diagnostic capability built into the current system. The digital two-way system, however, will allow the City to monitor the status of every siren location twenty-four hours a day. Currently, failures axe only noticed and reported during the monthly siren test ox when an actual activation occurs. The current design could leave a siren offline without staff knowing of a problem. In the future, failures at a specific site will automatically report back to the City, allowing fox a prompt response to correct a problem. Most locations will require a complete overhaul of the radio board which will include the replacement of the control cabinet. Since a number of cabinets are beginning to rust, they will be replaced with new aluminum cabinets and a battery backup as part of this project. The goal is to phase the project over two fiscal years. Nine (9) locations will be upgraded in 2011. One additional site will receive an entirely new siren (which has akeady been purchased), bringing the total nutnbex of naxxowband compliant/digital capable locations to ten (10) this year. This will leave nine remaining locations to be upgraded in 2012. In 2012, back-end equipment and software will be installed to allow fox remote monitoring. N:\Poblic Bodies\City Council\Councl RCA\Agenda Packet\041H-2011\Siren Upgradc.docx