From the Fort Worth City Councile agenda online at:
M&C Review
DATE: 1/26/2010 REFERENCE NO.: **C-24028 LOG NAME: 04REGIONAL INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS
CODE: C TYPE: CONSENT PUBLIC HEARING: NO
SUBJECT: Authorize the Execution of an Interlocal Agreement for Regional Interoperable Communications with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to Allow the City of Fort Worth to Participate in a Regional P25 Trunked Overlay Radio System at No Cost to the City
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that City Council authorize the City Manager to execute an Interlocal Agreement for Regional Interoperable Communications with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to allow the City of Fort Worth to participate in a Regional P25 Trunked Overlay Radio System at no cost to the City and receive four base station repeaters funded by a Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant.
DISCUSSION:
Today when public safety first responders in the North Texas Region cross jurisdictional boundaries in their duties in many cases they either lose radio communications or have to go through a manual process to change radio systems/frequencies to maintain necessary communications with their own organizations or others. The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is assisting local agencies in initiating a standards-based interoperable radio communications system that will provide effective communications among public safety agencies' personnel operating within a four county region (Tarrant County, Dallas County, Collin County and Denton County).
The NCTCOG is receiving a grant from the United States Department of Commerce through the Department of Homeland Security and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to pay for services and equipment to be used for standards-based interoperability. The NCTCOG is requesting that the City of Fort Worth provide one of four sites for the region's radio base station repeaters.
The system uses P25 standards based technology, which will make it possible for Public Safety personnel from other cities, other states or even Federal agencies to communicate with each other utilizing their own P25 radios when responding to multi-jurisdictional incidents in this region, saving time and possibly lives. The P25 standard will be the basis for the next generation Fort Worth Radio System. As such the next generation system will interoperate with this four county regional system providing a seamless communications capability for the City's public safety personnel.
This Interlocal Agreement will allow NCTCOG to locate four base station repeaters on the City's leased Burnett Plaza radio site, which will be networked to similar sites located in Dallas County, Denton County and Collin County allowing P25 radios in one agency to communicate with one another or with other agencies throughout the four county area. Through console patching, non P25 radios could communicate from their home area of operation with radios or Dispatch Center in another county. Ultimately, the system can be expanded to allow other similar systems to network together making radio communications possible across the state or even further.
This Interlocal Agreement will allow title of ownership of the base station repeaters to be transferred to the City.
