County, Cities Agree on Funding for New Emergency Network

Ending a year of negotiations and uncertainty, the county and its 31 cities have agreed to fund an $80-million emergency communication system to replace an aging radio network described by law enforcement officials as dangerously obsolete.

The new 800-megahertz system, which would link all police, fire and public works agencies in the county to one network, is considered crucial to coordinating emergency agencies as the region’s population grows.

The existing 400-megahertz system is so overtaxed that it often takes several minutes for public safety officials to make radio contact with colleagues in adjacent jurisdictions.

The project was placed in limbo by the county’s Dec. 6, 1994, bankruptcy filing, which left it without the funds needed to pay its full share of the costs.

City and county officials have spent the last year working out a new cost-sharing plan that shifts a greater burden to municipalities. But some cities had balked at paying more and threatened not to join the system--a prospect that supporters feared would lessen the network’s effectiveness.

The county recently agreed to modify the agreement, and a committee of city managers recommended that municipalities adopt the cost-sharing plan.

More than a dozen city councils have already approved the plan; the remainder are expected to do so in coming weeks.

“We are still not happy with the costs, but we think it’s important that we move forward with this,” Fullerton City Manager James L. Armstrong said. “In the long run, this is the best way to go and will serve us well into the future.”

The county called the agreement a major turning point in the long-running saga of the Motorola network. “It’s a major milestone,” said Robert A. Griffith, the county’s General Services Agency director. “Now we can start putting this thing together.”

Under the plan, the county will pick up 39% of the costs, leaving cities to contribute about $50 million. Before the bankruptcy, the county had agreed to pay 45% of the costs, with cities picking up the remainder.

The bankruptcy, which stemmed from a $1.64-billion loss to a county-run investment pool, left the county unable to abide by the original deal.

But city officials complained that they, too, lost money in the financial crisis. Some cities created a $12-million trust fund to hold their contributions for the network. Because the trust fund was considered part of the county treasury, cities will receive only 80% of their money back.

Once all cities formally approve the deal, Motorola will finalize its designs for the system, Griffith said. Equipment will be manufactured over the next two years. Then, one by one, cities will be brought onto the system, which should be fully operational by 1999, Griffith said.

The last-minute amendments to the deal will provide cities with a greater voice in determining the operating budget of the system once it is on line. The Board of Supervisors approved the changes at its Tuesday meeting.

In other action, the board:

* Voted to move forward with an independent study that will compare the compensation earned by county workers with those in the private sector. Such a study has long been advocated by anti-tax activists and others who say public employees are overpaid.

The county will spend $89,000 on the study, which will be completed within 60 days by KH Consulting Group.

* Approved a plan to reopen a Sheriff’s Department training facility known as Laser Village, which was closed last year because of the bankruptcy.

The Orange facility gives peace officers a chance to prepare for incidents such as bank robberies and kidnappings in a realistic setting that includes actors who portray criminals.

Private security firms and police training organizations that use Laser Village will contribute some of funds needed to reopen it.

* Selected a consultant to conduct a management and operations audit of the assessor’s office. Supervisors have criticized the office for not processing property tax assessment appeals in a timely fashion.

The study will examine whether the appeal process can be handled more efficiently. Since 1993, the number of assessment appeals has skyrocketed, creating a backlog. As a result, some appeals passed the two-year deadline, forcing the county to reduce the values.