CCP 08-09-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e I SD-23. New Public Safety Spectrum Needs (ah) 2 [referred to Telecommunications Task Force] 3 4 Issue: Cities have benefited from successful efforts at the federal level to gain access 5 to exclusive radio and wireless communications capacity for state and local public safety 6 spectrum. Cities can now take advantage of the new radio and wireless communications 7 space set aside by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at the upper end of 8 the UHF television band for public safety. For future interoperability, cities will need 9 additional spectrum to ensure public safety agencies can communicate with each other 10 and with surrounding jurisdictions. 11 12 The U.S. Department of Commerce and the FCC Public Safety Wireless Advisory 13 Committee have recommended reallocation of 3 MHZ of radio spectrum in the range of 14 138-144 MHZ radio band be made available exclusively for state and local public safety 15 interoperability. This spectrum is currently assigned for military use and is not currently 16 in use. Unless secured for public safety purposes, it is likely to be auctioned offto the 17 highest bidder for private use. The radio band available is adjacent to the current MHZ 18 band used for fire, police, and other public safety communications and would provide 19 particularly good frequencies for mobile/portable radio system communications. 20 21 New spectrum in the 800 MHZ range requires many more sites to cover the same 22 geographic range and uses more expensive radio equipment. Although many public 23 safety agencies are moving to new 800 MHZ systems, others will need to remain in lower 24 frequency bands. Equipment in 800 MHZ range will not communicate with many of the 25 existing public safety systems that operate at lower frequencies. 26 27 Response: The federal government must make additional spectrum available to 28 allow public safety agencies that require multi-agency communications to respond 29 to accidents, disasters, and criminal activity that cross jurisdictional boundaries. So 30 that it will not be auctioned, the 3 MHZ available for reallocation for public safety 31 should be reserved to relieve congestion on nearby public safety frequencies. 32 33 Immediate action must be taken to secure this additional radio spectrum to 34 advance the interoperabiIity of public safety communications 'Systems. 35 36 Potential new policy areas for 2000: 37 38 . Official newspaper designation - creating an exception where the newspaper makes 39 an error three times. (suggested by the City of Minnetonka) 40 . Municipal provision of telecommunications services 41 . Local access to statewide voter registration system 42 . Legalization of fireworks 43 . Authority to locally adopt more restrictive fire code 12