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1k. Communication Equipment for City Hall & Fire Station r ,. 1 CITY OF i e. A II `� 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 (612) 937-1900 1 MEMORANDUM / t TO: Don Ashworth, City Manager _._,_ _ IPublic Safety Commission FROM: Jim Chaffee, Public Safety Director ?. , . - 1 :. DATE: March 7 , 1989 ,_._-_____-,_. . SUBJ: Communication Consultants Report - 1 Please find attached a copy of a report from Communication 1 Auditors. I requested that Arvid Holt of Communication Auditors take a look at our previous report from Dr. John DuBois . Several concerns came to mind after reviewing Dr. DuBois ' report in I depth. Also, questions were raised by Fire Chief Dale Gregory and Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wing on the necessity of several items listed in Dr. DuBois ' report. Because of these concerns , I asked Arvid Holt of Communication Auditors to take a 1 look at Dr. DuBois ' report and if he could come up with some recommendations and/or refinements . You will find after going through Arvid Holt' s report that he has brought the costs for the 1 communications upgrade down to a workable level within the allotted monies in the budget. You may recall that at the last Public Safety Commission meeting, II presented Dr. DuBois ' report and asked for recommendations. The recommendation was to proceed but the concerns were, at that time, budgetary. I indicated at the last Public Safety 1 Commission meeting that I was optimistic that the funds were there. They were not. Consequently, we are presenting this revised communications report that does in fact meet the budge- tary constraints imposed by the City Hall and Fire Station expan- sion and remodeling. You will note that in the last paragraph of Arvid Holt' s report, he indicated that the total estimated cost of the revised project, including the new City base station, 1 will be $14, 875 for 1989 , and $13,700 for 1990 . Total for the project will be $28,575 and this compares with $39, 710 in Dr. DuBois ' report. Recommendation It is staff ' s recommendation to implement Communication Auditors report and budget $14, 875 for the first phase of the com- munications upgrade for 1989 and $13 , 700 for the second phase of the upgrade in 1990 . The $14 , 875 for 1989 has been budgeted for and will be covered under the expansion project funds. .10 February 15, 1989 ' Mr. James Chaffee ' Director of Public Safety City of Chanhassen 690 Coulter Drive Chanhassen, MN 55317 Dear Mr. Chaffee: Thank you for the opportunity of talking with you and Dale Gregory today re- garding the proposed radio communication system improvements planned by the City of Chanhassen. The following report is a review of the subjects cov- ered. The basis of our discussion was a report entitled "RADIO COMMUNICA- TIONS EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS" presented to the City of Chanhassen by Dr. John R. DuBois dated January, 1989. The enclosed diagram, Figure 1 , shows your City radio system as it exists to- day. A base station is located at the main Fire Station with remote control units at the Fire Station, City Hall and the Public Works garage. Anyone with access to these remote control units can contact any City vehicle equip- ped with a radio that is within range of the transmitting antenna. Each re- mote control unit outside the Fire Station is connected to the base station via leased radio control circuits. This system configuration has satisfacto- rily served the City since it was installed several years ago. 1 Figure 2 is a diagram of the City radio system only as proposed in the DuBois report. Each section of the DuBois plan will be individually described fol- lowed by a review of our discussion. Section 1 - Your existing City base station, antenna, tower and coaxial cable will be relocated to the the Public Works garage. A new base station with emergency backup power, antenna and cable will be purchased and installed at the City water tower located at 500 West 76th Street. Cost from the DuBois report for this part of the project will be $9,850.00 Section 2 - A new fire base station, antenna and coaxial cable is to be purchased and installed at the main Fire Station. This base station will operate on both the Carver County fire frequency and the Statewide mutual aid frequency. It will be connected to a new remote control unit with a desk microphone located in the Fire Station Emergency Operating Center (EOC) . Cost from the DuBois report for this part of the project will be $7,825.00. I i COMMUNICATION AUDITORS R.R. 1, BOX 114, HOWARD LAKE, MINN. 55349, (612) 543-2363 11 I I \ 1 r .t • CNYOF 690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317 r (612) 937-1900 MEMORANDUM r 11,4") AIL 4.0 e WN TO: Public Safety Commission ' FROM: Jim Chaffee, Public Safety Director DATE: March 7, 1989 SUBJ: Communication Consultants Report ' Please find attached a copy of a report from Communication Auditors. I requested that Arvid Holt of Communication Auditors take a look at our previous report from Dr. John DuBois. Several ' concerns came to mind after reviewing Dr. DuBois ' report in depth. Also, questions were raised by Fire Chief Dale Gregory and Public Safety Commissioner Richard ding on the necessity of several items listed in Dr. DuBois ' report. Because of these ' concerns, I asked Arvid Holt of Communication Auditors to tare a look at Dr. DuBois ' report and if he could come up with some recommendations and/or refinements . You will find after going ' through Arvid Holt ' s report that he has brought the costs for the communications upgrade down to a workable level n'ithin the allotted monies in the budget. You may recall that at the last Public Safety Commission meeting, I presented Dr. DuBois ' report and asked for recommendations . The recommendation was to proceed but the concerns were, at that ' time, budgetary. I indicated at the last Public Safety Commission meeting that I was optimistic that the funds were there. They were not. Consequently, we are presenting this ' revised communications report that does in fact meet the budge- tary constraints imposed by the City Hall and Fire Station expan- sion and remodeling. You will note that in the last paragraph of Arvid Holt' s report, he indicated that the total estimated cost of the revised project, including the new City base station, will be $14 , 875 for 1989 , and $13 , 700 for 1990 . Total for the project will be $28 , 573 and this compares with $39 , 710 in Dr. DuBois ' report. Recommendation It is staff ' s recommendation to implement Communication Auditors report and budget $14, 875 for the first phase of the com- munications upgrade for 1989 and $13 , 700 for the second phase of the upgrade in 1990 . The $14, 875 for 1989 has been budgeted for and will be covered under the expansion project funds. Mr. James Chaffee February 15, 1989 Page 2 1 Section 3 — A new control base station, antenna and coaxial cable for the Carver County Law Enforcement (LE) system will be purchased and installed at the main Fire Station. It will be connected to a remote control unit with a desk microphone located in the Fire Station EOC and ten telephone style re- mote control units at locations in City Hall. This control station will be used only during emergency situations where it becomes necessary to communi- cate directly with Carver County Sheriff Deputies assigned to the area during said emergency. Cost from the DuBois report for this part of the project will be $11 , 125.00. Section 4 — A new PA system amplifier with desk microphone is to be purchased and installed in the Fire Station EOC. This PA system will be connected to several speakers throughout the Fire Station for locating personnel within the building. Each speaker will have a volume control for individual con- trol. Another input to the amplifier will originate from the County Fire receiver so that any activity on that channel will be heard through the same PA speakers. Cost from the DuBois report for this part of the project will be $1 ,750.00. Total cost for the above sections is $30, 550.00. The remaining balance of ' $5, 550.00 for a total of $36,100.00 as shown in the DuBois report (excluding the $3,610.00 contingency) is made up of new telephone style remote control units to be installed in City Hall and Fire Station and installation of new leased radio control circuits. Existing telephone style remote control units will not he reused under the DuBois plan. A review of our discussion follows : Several factors were discussed regarding Section 1. The main factor being the cost of nearly $10,000. An advantage would be increased range one can expect when the base station antenna height is increased from about 50 feet to 155 feet . One disadvantage would be the vulnerability to system dis- ruption due to faults in the required leased radio control circuit between the water tower and the Fire Station which could occur at any time and possibly during emergency situations . Further evaluation was made of the existing radio range compared to the projected range gained by the proposed move to the water tower and it was agreed that the range gained was all outside the City limits and that no substantial improvement would be realized within the City. Since the Fire Station already has emergency backup power and it has been established over the past years that radio range with the transmitting antenna at this location satisfies the requirements of the City, it was agreed that the expense ($10,000.00) which would be incurred with a move to the City water tower is not necessary. Also, increased system reliability would result since the leased radio control circuit between the Fire Station EOC and the water tower would not be required. I ■ 1 1 Mr. James Chaffee February 15, 1989 Page 3 It is recommended that the existing City base station should be removed from the Fire Station as soon as possible and temporarily installed at the Public ' Works garage to allow construction workers the freedom required to complete their project without the possibility of damage to the base station, antenna or coaxial cable . Upon completion of the Fire Station project, the base ' station will be returned to the Fire Station, connected via new coaxial cable to a new antenna mounted on the West side of the hose drying tower. With the help of City personnel, this temporary move to the Public Works garage will be done at no additional cost to the City. The move back to the Fire Station will require: New antenna $450.00 ' Coaxial cable 75.00 Installation 500.00 ' Total $1025.00 This figure is in lieu of the $10,000.00 required to move this station to the City water tower. ' One of the two existing telephone style remote control units now in the Fire Station should be installed in the Fire Chief's office for communication with ' City and Fire vehicles at an installation cost of $50.00 and a new remote control unit with desk microphone should be installed in the Fire station EOC at a cost of $1,050.00 including installation. Five new additional telephone style remote control units should be installed in the offices of: Director of Public Safety Assistant Director of Public Safety Fire Marshall Building Inspector and New Reception area These new remote control units will be in addition to the existing units in: The City Engineers office ' Accounting Department and Existing Reception Area ' Cost for these five new remote control units including installation will be $2250.00. Total cost for this section will be $4,375.00. The City radio system will then be complete. ' Under this plan, there will be two City remote control units at the Fire Station, eight at City Hall and five at the Public Works garage for a total of fifteen units. There is a point of diminishing returns which can result when this many remotes are connected to one base station. It can result in 1 I Mr. James Chaffee February 15, 1989 Page 4 marginal operation. I believe satisfactory operation can be obtained in this system however, plans should be made to budget for a new higher power City ' base station installed at the Fire Station. Your existing base station can then be installed at the Public Works garage connected to new coaxial cable and antenna mounted on the tower which was removed from the Fire Station. All remote control units at the Public Works garage can then be connected to the base station at their location reducing the number of remotes on the main base station to only ten and providing backup for the main station should that station be down for service. There will also be a saving to the City since the leased radio control circuit to the Public Works garage will then no longer be required. Estimated cost for a new City base station, installation, move and reinstal— lation of existing City base station will be about $8,000.00. Section 2 consists of the purchase and installation of a new fire base station. This action will greatly aid the Fire Department with their fire activities and should be accomplished as outlined above plus the second existing remote control unit at the Fire Station should be moved to the Fire Chief's office. Section 3 will permit personnel in the Fire Station EOC to communicate directly with Carver County Sheriff Deputies during emergency situations. Improved operation of the Sheriff' s radio system is being planned in the Chanhassen area which will permit much improved portable radio communication within the City Hall as well as other buildings in the area. The required equipment has already been received and they are waiting only for a location in Chanhassen to install same. With this improved operation, the ten remote control units in City Hall will not be required. Existing portable radios , will provide all required communication. Cost from the DuBois report for this section is $11, 125.00. Cost for the ten remote control units which are not required, including installation would be $4,500.00 reducing the cost by this amount to $6,625.00 for this section. Section 4 includes a PA system with several speakers throughout the Fire Station. This section should be accomplished as proposed. A review of the modified cost figures is as follows: Section 1 (City base station) $ 4,375.00 Section 2 (Fire base station) 7,825.00 Section 3 (LE base station) 6,625.00 Section 4 (PA system) 1, 750.00 Total $20,575.00 ' I ■ Mr. James Chaffee February 15, 1989 Page 5 Further reduction of this cost figure for this year could be a delayed purchase of the LE base station. Carver County has not given final approval of the expanded Channel #3 modifications since these modifications depend upon the acquisition of an additional radio frequency. Implementation of these modifications will not take place until next year. The LE antenna and ' coaxial cable should be purchased and installed at this time. The LE base station is figured at $4,500.00, the remote control with desk microphone is figured at $1000.00 plus installation of $200.00 for a total of $5,700.00 ' reducing the above figure of $20,575.00 to $14,875.00. To obtain the best possible bid price for this equipment , the LE base station/remote combination ($5, 700.00) and the new City base station plus ' relocation of your existing City base station ($8,000.00) should be budgeted for next year and combined with the larger Carver County bid when they receive bids on their improvement plans for Channel #3. Total estimated cost of the revised project including the new City base station will be $14,875.00 this year and $13, 700.00 next year for a total of $28, 575.00 spread over this two year period. ' A lot of information is covered in this report . Should you have any questions, please give me a call . ' Sincerely, C0Mi1UN'ICA,TION AUpITORS / Jx. // �i L 1-4K ' Arvid V. Holt Enc. CC: Dale Gregory r CHANHASSEN EXisrIN6 Clry gADI o sysrE m LEI' sEO RAQ! O PLCDLIC 1JORKS CoNrRoL CITY HALL 5 REnorCS 3 R Error= s rELco r! E Pa ! Nr FIRE sr/ ri oN C 1 r`/ BASE 2 RE170 TES FIGURE 2 - 17- 87 MN ME M NM IMO •111111•111111111111111111111110 •11111•111 , 1111111 CR,\NiIAss EN , P(' ONO SET) C / ry RAD1 c) sySrEri F R Oh D,48o1s REPoi T LEhSif 2AD10 Pul3L1C WORKS CONTROL C / Ty MALL 5 REnorES C /RCu/ rs OLDC / ;y 8 REnorfs 8ASE STArioN TELCO POINT F 1 R 6 S rAT/ ON NEW C i ry C I Ty WN r4"K 2 REM 0r-S 3 A S E TOW"R S r TION ► GuRE z 2 - / 7 - 89 ? T Public Safety Commission February 9 , 1989 {,= Page 41 Boyt: That we endorse the meeting between the Cities , the Staff , ' and the County to discuss and determine the proper plan for the utilization of the vehicle being donated. Wenzlaff: Ok. All in favor of the motion. Carried unanimously. Wing: I have a question. I hate to have the Mayor sit here and not ask this question. Don, where do you feel this issue belongs. You should take car of this. I certainly don ' t feel it is our job. Chmiel : My understanding is to the discussion that has been going on. It appears as though that a gift can be presented to the City without the acceptance of the Council. It can be accepted by the Manger of the City. As I see this , I think possibly it should go in that particular direction. Two reasons , or one reason, that I really see. To forego all the problems that we' ve been discussing this evening, of who said what and why what was said, I think what we have to do is form together, just like I am and just like you are, you are orovidinq your time for the betterment of the City. That ' s where I see it should be done. So my feeling would be for noth Mr. Chaffee, or/and Al Wallin, have discussions with Mr . X and discuss the proposed vehicle and have the City Manager accomoany them and come co with a conclu- sion and cage from there . That ' s my position right now. Chaffee : I -;ould l e to just clarify one thing . Scott Harr and I are not going to resin if wwe don ' t get this car. Wenzlaff : We will .love onto rni.aner 9 , New Business . Jim, I believe the communisations constultant ' s report is yours . ' Blechta: I have one thing unier Unfinished Business . I would like to ask Jim as to the status of the stop signs on Laredo and 78th Street. Chaffee: We just got the accident information back from the State regarding that particular intersection. If my memory serves me right, we had 8 reportable accidents in the last five years at that intersection. That information has gone to Gary Warren and I believe he ' s got that scheduled for Council Monday, maybe the 27th but it' s coming up to Council this month . Blechta : With what recouumendation? Chaffee: That I cannot tell you. I don ' t know. Wenzlaff : I guess this gets back to it' s moving along. Now onto MI New Business and the communication consultant ' s report. Jim, because of the latoness of the packet , I didn ' t get a chance to spend as much time on that as I ' d like to so would you do a good ' joo of exalaing it please? I 1 ti. o Public Safety Commission February 9 , 1989 Page 42 Chaffee : If I understood it, I probably could. I ' m not an ' expert in radio communications, and that ' s precisely why we hired a consultant to help us out. Basically, we were looking for a workable system, communication wise, for our emergency operating ' center that is being built presently in the fire station. This came about after myself, Gary Warren, Todd Gerhardt, and Dale Gregory attended a disaster preparedness seminar out on the east coast last year. At that seminar we learned the importance of ' communications in any kind of disaster or mass casualty icident. Specially in an environment that we work in, where we have various public safety agencies, if you will , assisting in any ' kind of emergency. I think I outlined in my memo to the Public Safety Commission and Don Ashworth that if something like this should happen, we can reasonably count on St. Francis Hospital ambulance, Waconia ambulance, Public Works people, people, Fire Sheriff ' s people, State Patrol P , Fire Department, our Public Safety people , CSOS , bulding inspectors . All these various agencies are going to need to be coordinated. That is the primary function ' the emergency operating center. The operating center itself has a communications component and a command room component attached to it. Command room would be manned by the City Manger, the ' Mayor, myself , the Sheriff if he ' s available , Public Worns Direc- tor, anyone who might have any :seed to be there to help make decisions and speed the process along. The emergency center g• 1 oo,..rating ' communications component is what the consultant ' s report is all about . I` hopefully hopefully ties in all these various agencies and eases the communication efforts that we will nave to ,mae during a disaster . Hopefully, we won ' t ever have to us` that. I think the oottom line in the communications report /as $31 , 000 . The critical question that I that do hot have for you tonight , and I apologize , is where the money ' s coming from. I ' money � don ' t :.now it tf1-, U is available through the referetidu.n. It ' s poJJi..�1e, �:�L we won ' t know that until the project is completed. We nave established a contingency budget, but we don ' t now how much will be left in that once the Project is completed . This does take in account not only the Fire Department, but also takes into account the entire communications operations for the City during just normal , regular working hours without any disaster . It upgrades the City radio communications portion of it. We plan on putting the antenna on top of the water tower on 76th - Street. That should enhance our capabilities for communicating on a day to day basis with our City units . ' The report itself is complete. I have read it. Again , I don ' t understand it totally , but that ' s why ae have a communication consultant on board . With that, I ' ll entertain any questions or at least try to answer them. ' • Klick : I just have one . And I also cannot pretend to understand this . From my own experience, tang y personal e the only lectures that I ' have ever found from the command post is that you have four phone lines , and you ' re trying to call out to get your people in or whatever. Poole Find out that' s the -ommand post , everybody jams the lines getting through . Have they made an provisions for Public Safety Commission I February 9 , 1989 IPage 43 / some unlisted phone numbers and lines . You ' re going to need to I make some calls out and everybody is going to calling you. Chaffee: That' s more of a telephone aspect of. . . Klick: He did talk about some phone lines in here b e�ide the i radios and crystals and stuff. Chaffee: In answer to your question, yes we have. We have made I those . . . Wenzlaff : Jim, what started this proposal? How did this get I going? What Drought us . . . . We apparantly hired to get this done? Chaffee: When we started the projects for both the City Hall and I the fire station , we realized the scope of the projects . Some of areas in the scope of the project was beyond our capabilities of understanding. That was one of them and chat ' s why we hired the II consultant. Wenzlaff : Was this done at the direction of the City Council at that time or how did this come about that we . . . I Chaffee : this was just a discussion between the architect and the City Manager and myself . I Wenzlaff : And the decision was .;ade to request that this study be done. I Chaffee: That ' s right. Wenzlaff : Ok. And the bottom line recommendation of the study I then is other than the dollars , 13 that we implement what ' s con- tained in however many pages we have here? Chaffee : That is correct. I Wenzlaff: And it ' s use is to be for ame rjency periods , anything I we would define as an emergency where it would be desirous to have control in a central location for some period of time such as a natural disaster but not limited to that? Chaffee: This is true. Hopefully, we will never have to acti- II vate the emergency operating center. Anytime the Fire Department will be responding to any kind of call , we believe that EOC will .' be activated as a dispatch center, not as an 60C. On a day to day basis , where nobody is in the dispatch center or the EOC, our enhancement of communications through our present city radio system should oe better with this pr000sal . II Klick: Including public works , etc? II I i ti 7 -? ' Public Safety Commission February 9 , 1989 Page 44 ' Wenzlaff : Ok, so the Fire Department has the ability to use this as their main dispatch center? It will be your main dispatch center? ' Gregory: The EOS is going to be the Fire Departent ' s main dispatch. When we ' re all out on a call, that will be manned at all times . It will be also communication between the city or ' fire department and the people out on the scene. It will be used on a day to day basis for the fire department. ' Wenzlaff: This has provisions for emergency generator backup? Gregory: Right. ' Castleberry: One clarification , I think, it might be confusing. Dispatching in a sense that we use the City frequency from truck to truck, the actual dispatching all comes througn the 911 system ' at the County. They are not taking over our dispatching. Chaffee : Sheriff Al Wallin has been provided a cony of this report. He is an integral part of this . Wenzlaff : I presume we will need the sheriff ' s OK becaus z are going to equip it with county frequencies as well . ' Chaffee: The sheriff has ultimate control over his radio fre- quency. What he says , .goes . When I made the comment earlier about he would be in there ‘Jith us if available , I .vas thin: ing ' of a tornado that mayoe cutting e swath through the entire Carver County. He may not be sitting LID here in Chanhassen helping us out. But if a major disast 2r occurred strictly in the City of ' Chanhassen , I would expect that Sheriff Wallin would be nere as well as Jim Castlebery would be , too , to assist es . ' Wenzlaff : And my question was that in order to equip the faci- lity with the sheriff ' s department frequencies , we would need his ok to do so? ' Chaffee: I believe that is correct. Is the right, Jim? Casteberry: Yes . ' Wallin : One thine that I mnv 1riterioct here . Carver County does have a users board organization in effect right now. 411 radios , ' equipment and so forth , whether it affects the fire department , whether it affects the sheriff ' s department, anything, this board is organized for that purpose to make sure that say Waconia, or Watertown, or whatever so that the sheriff can just go out and ' tagently use these frequencies and so forth. The fire chiefs around this users board as well as Arvid Holt , our maintenance person and Gr•,g Davies , our emergency service , Jim Chaffee, a group of e�vervoodv that sits on this board to make these deci- • I _ 1 Y � Public Safety Commission ' February 9 , 1989 Page 45 sions . I want you to be aware that this will be brought before the user board before a final decision is made for my department to go ahead. So I just want that in quote here. Don ' t think that this is just automatic. Bernhjelm: Do you anticipate any problems with the funding or is this something that ' s going to be major in the future? Chaffee: I ' m optimistic that the funds are there. The architect is not. The architect is extremely conservative. Don Ashworth is not had a chance to correspond with me yet on this one. It ' s not due to go to City Council until the 27th and at that time it gives Al time to call the users board so we can discuss it with them. I 'm brining it to your attention as is the normal oroce- dure to get a yah or nah on it and proceed from that direction. I do believe that the dollars are there, but it' s a matter of trying to figure out where they are. ' Wenzlaff : But you ' re in favor of the proposal as the com- munication ' s engineer recommended it? Chaffee: Yes , I am. Wenzlaff : And Chief Gregory, you have seen it as .yell? Gregory : I have seen it and I nave also work with Jim. Wenzlaff : Any other questions from the commission? I ' ll make a ' motion that we accept the recommendation of the communications engineer and Public Safety Director Ji.n Chaffee, Fire Chief Dale Gregory that we pursue this subject, of course, to the availaci- lity of funds . Second? Blechta: Second. 1 Wenzlaff: All in favor? Opposed? Carried unanimously. That ' s the end of our formal agenda . Boyt: No it ' s not . You ' re suppose to dot these things down , Chairman. I ' ve got a few comment.; about bpeed patrol . I ' m glad you ' re here, Sheriff Wallin because you can probably answer these questions for me. Gast month when we met , I was soot of a good news , bad news prophet on traffic moving violations . I commented on that they appear co be going up. But, that, I believe, 12 was the number at that particular time , and it occurred to me that might not be as many as we had opportunity to write. Mr. Workman and I atay very well disagree on this , but I think that there is... a large segment of this population that would like to see speed controlled more effectively. Imagine when I look at the numbers and saw Octooer we had, I oelieve, It was 7. November 5 , December 3 traffic moving violations written in ' ■