REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 07/21/2021
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Police Department
SUBJECT:
Title
Reallocation of funding for the additional Simulcast Site Radio System on the Corona Grape Hill Site.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
An additional Simulcast Site Radio System is being installed on the Corona Grape Hill Site. This is a permanent antenna project designed to address Communication Interoperability issues consisting of pockets of dead zones and the inability to penetrate building walls in the City’s north-east end. Some grant funding that was identified for this project will not be available, and this action will realign the budget to reflect this change.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
a. Approve an appropriation reduction of $53,323 in the Reimbursement Grants Fund 480 for the FY19 State Homeland Security Program Grant Award.
b. Authorize an appropriation and estimated revenue increase of $53,323 in the Citizen’s Option for Public Safety Grant Fund 231 “Growth”; and an appropriation of $100,000 from the General Fund Designated Revenue Reserve (Donations) to the Public Safety Enterprise Communications Radio Interoperability Capital Improvement Project No. 70110.
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BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
In 2017, the Corona Police Department entered into an agreement with the County of Riverside for migration to and participation in the Public Safety Enterprise Communications system. This allowed the Police Department to be part of a county-wide radio interoperability system. Since that migration, it was discovered that there are pockets of dead zones and a lack of in-building penetration in the north-east end of the City. This inability for the officers to communicate with dispatch and other officers poses a serious public safety issue. After these problems were identified, the Corona Police Department began meeting with the Public Safety Enterprise System steering committee and Motorola representatives in 2018 to try and identify the root cause of the communication problems. These meetings also established the cost of fixing the problem and addressed funding sources. A temporary antenna was installed at the Corona Grape Hill Site located at 742 John Circle in April 2020 to test if that would resolve the service issues. The temporary antenna was tested, and the communication issues were rectified. Based on the success of the temporary antenna, it was determined that an additional Simulcast Site Radio System was needed.
In January 2021, the City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the County of Riverside and the City of Corona for a cost-sharing agreement for the additional Simulcast Site Radio System. At that time, it was projected that this project would be completed in July 2021. There was $53,323 of grant funding that had been approved for this project on the Fiscal Year 2019 State Homeland Security Program Grant and an anticipated award of $100,000 for this project on the Fiscal Year 2020 State Homeland Security Program Grant. On June 21, 2021, the Corona Police Department received notification from the County of Riverside that the 2019 grant request was denied due to Sole Source Procurement procedures, as discussed below.
ANALYSIS:
The overall value of this project is approximately $1.4 million, with the costs being shared with the County of Riverside. The steering committee on this project went through several negotiations with Motorola and searched for ways to reduce the costs of this project. The Corona Police Department has also tried to identify grant funding that could offset some of the project’s costs.
The Corona Police Department applied for Homeland Security Grant funding as part of the Fiscal Year 2019 and Fiscal Year 2020 grant applications for this project and was awarded $53,323 for Fiscal Year 2019 and tentatively awarded $100,000 for Fiscal Year 2020. Since the overall value of this project was over $250,000, Homeland Security Grants required Sole Source approval from the State. The Corona Police Department submitted a Sole Source Procurement request to the State of California for Fiscal Year 2019. It was ultimately denied due to there already being a Memorandum of Understanding in place with the County of Riverside, and thus funding is no longer available to the City of Corona.
On May 31, 2021, the funding period for the 2019 Fiscal Year Homeland Security Grant closed. Though the police department was initially awarded $53,323, the grant was for reimbursement only and funds were never received. Due to the declination of the grant, the police department must now relinquish the funding back to the issuing entity. The Fiscal Year 2020 Homeland Security grant funding of $100,000, if granted, will be modified to allow the Corona Police Department to purchase handheld radios. This grant still has not been officially awarded and will come back to City Council for approval when it is.
The Simulcast Site Radio System project had taken more time than indicated when the project was brought before City Council in January 2021, primarily due to issues in the supply chain. For example, the generator for this project was ordered in April 2021 with a 13 - 15-week lead time from the vendor and is not projected to arrive until late July 2021. It is now expected that this project will be complete at the end of the calendar year 2021.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will result in an appropriation reduction of $53,323 in the Reimbursement Grants Fund 480; an appropriation and estimated revenue increase of $53,323 from the Cal Cops Grant Fund 231 “COPS Growth”; and an appropriation of $100,000 from the General Fund Designated Revenue Reserve (Donations) to the Public Safety Enterprise Communications Radio Interoperability Capital Improvement Project No. 70110.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action is a merely a change in funding sources for the project and there is no possibility this will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: MICHELLE ADAMS, MANAGEMENT ANALYST II
REVIEWED BY: ROBERT NEWMAN, CHIEF OF POLICE
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Grant #2019-0035 Sole Source Procurement Request Email
2. Exhibit 2 - Simulcast Site Radio System Staff Report January 20, 2021
3. Exhibit 3 - The County of Riverside and the City of Corona Memorandum of Understanding