Dunn Basically, I just want to bring the council up to date on some of the dead-ends I've run into with the Date Avenue Condo plats. It's not being on the back burner. Is that with, had it not been two councils ago, two planners ago, two city administrators, there's a lot to figure out and basically, the developer did do the improvements as far as water, sewer and storm and streets per plan. And I am researching some letters that was written back and forth between developer and city administrator. And so -- and then we're also looking at the calcs, we're having our engineers look at the calcs for the -- on -- to see if there can be something worked out there. So this is moving forward. It just didn't come to council tonight. And that's all that I wanted to let you know, that we are working on it and moving ahead.

Porter I just want to ask about that. How much are we going to pay in engineering analysis? Is there some kind of a -- concerns me with it.

Dunn We're also -- that would be a mayor's call. And we have a -- [unintelligible] Design is no longer in, in business. So it's our city engineer has to look at it. So I need to get a cost from him. And he's going to give me a cost on Friday. So we don't want to spend a lot of money on this, but we need to find a resolution. Council feels we need to find a resolution.

Criswell [unintelligible] would work real good to fill that hole in [laughs].

Dunn Well, look at which corner would be the most, the best served. If you look at where the houses are, you have to decide what's going to be the easiest access for everybody to use the park.

Rowe Have you got a meeting set up with the homeowners out there, yet, Connie?

Dunn No.

Rowe You were going to do that.

Dunn We, we are going to do that.

Rowe Okay. We'll have to have their input on it, too, 'cause they're the ones that go there.

One of the things I want to talk about is the 800 MHz transition and its attendant costs; Snohomish County is going to a completely new radio system. It's the 800 megahertz system and it's a high-band frequency system. The total cost is in the vicinity of $36 million. That translates into a cost to the City of Sultan for Start-up fees of about $272,000 up front. And in excess of $12,000 a year in Maintenance and Operation (M&O) funds. In addition, there is approximately $30,000 to $40,000 needed for equipment, all the patrol cars, all the base station radios, all the portable radios will have to be replaced with the new 800 MHz frequencies. The present frequencies that we are utilizing are in the 154 MHz band area. Those frequencies are being recalled by the FCC, and ultimately going to be reissued, probably to radio and TV interests.

This project has been ongoing for about eight years in its planning and development stage. The costs are such that all of the radio towers are being replaced. New radio towers are being installed because 800 MHz is line-of-sight radio. It does not use the band waves that the 154 MHz uses. Therefore, you have to have more radio sites to beam the signals to different areas, hence a larger cost. Plus the radios themselves are more sophisticated and cost more money.

The problem we face obviously is the cost of conversion. And the reason behind all this is the growth that we are experiencing. We have two radio frequencies right now in all of Eastern Snohomish County, all the police departments operate on - including the sheriff's office. At times, especially in the evenings out here, you can barely get on the air. An officer can barely make transmissions. It has become a case of too much with too little. The 800 MHz frequencies immediately allow 16 different talk group capability on the first band. You can then go -- if you are super-busy and have lots of things going on -- you can flip the switch and go to another 16 bands. And then if you're really busy, you can go to another 16 different bands. And these are talk groups. And I'm not a technician here, so please don't ask me technical questions. I'm the kind that looks for the switch that says "on" and "off" and that's as far as I get, technically.

But the senior engineer for the Snohomish County Emergency Radio System -- [pronouced "sirs"] -- the Snopac Director and the Finance Director for Snohomish County which has agreed to underwrite the cost of this project, are willing to come and meet with the council as a whole. And they were out here about three years ago to alert the council ahead of time what was happening. They are in Monroe tonight giving a presentation to their city council on exactly this issue, because we all choked when we saw the costs on this, as you probably are. And frankly, I have no idea where the money's going to come from. But it is not a case of, do we have an option for something else? We do not have an option. It is 800 MHz or use smoke signals. I'm not being facetious. And I'm not a fan of 800 MHz, I'll tell you that right up front. Because it is an older technology and the technology is changing fast. But there is nothing right now. This technology's about 10 years old, as I recall. At least 10 years old. But the problem is, it's here and we don't have an option.

So I would ask the council if you would be willing to meet as a council with the Snopac folks. And at the same time, I want to -- because the Fire District is involved in this -- have Chief Halverson and the fire commissioners join in this meeting to hear that presentation so that you have a clear understanding of the system and so forth, and what it costs. And I think the taxpayers need to know that, too. Obviously. But we need a new radio system. I am scared to death that one of these days my officer out here is going to have one opportunity to call for help and won't get out, because the radio is being used. And if you listen -- if you have scanners and you listen to radio, police radio traffic, a lot of times you'll hear it being garbled. And that means that more than one unit is trying to talk at the same time on an available frequency. And it's very frustrating. So we've got to make some changes. And when we get special operations out here, or an earthquake occurs, the radio system just goes crazy, and we're dead. We can't even use it. So the 800 MHz and the capability of using multiple bands within this frequency system has a lot of charm, obviously. It will enable us to communicate.

Criswell Do you have any idea how long it would be before they start bouncing off the satellites rather than these towers?

Walser They're doing it right now, Rob.

Criswell No. I mean, Snopac. I mean, are they going to put this in place and two years down the road they're going to change it again?

Walser My estimation -- No. Two years. No. My estimation is, to be very honest with you, in 10 years, probably. The loan we are looking at through the county is 15 years in length. But I would bet you that the way things are going, that probably 10 years, maybe a little less, you'll see a completely different technology. I happen to be Chairman of the Board of the Snopac Communications Center. One of our goals is to consult -- there are three communication centers operating in Snohomish County right now: Snocom, Snopac and Marysville. My goal in joining the Snopac Board was to try and consolidate these three centers in one. For a whole lot of reasons: Efficiency and economy being the top two. I've met with the county executive, Bob Drewel and his staff, who are looking at two things. One is applying the opportunity to apply for either a FEMA or a Homeland Security grant to help fund or underwrite this project, and we think that this will fall within their guideline. Second is to get the county executive to take the lead to consolidate the dispatch center. That will save us money, obviously, in staffing requirements and so forth, and it will make us more efficient [unintelligible] being the Snopac dispatch system that's currently in place. So 800 MHz I believe is the mechanism to do all this, if it's done right. And, and I -- like I said, I visited with Executive Drewel and his staff last Thursday on this issue.

Criswell The reason I ask is the state uses that 800 MHz. And you're right, if you can't see Donna, you can't talk to her.

Walser I know the DOT's had some problems with theirs. WSP is going to 700 MHz. And the system that we are looking at is 800, 700 MHz, so that we can be compatible with the WSP.

Criswell Like I say, you gotta have lots of towers to get in all the little pockets.

Grant Weed (City attorney) Chief, as you indicated, the county's underwriting this whole venture by selling bonds. As I understand if from the other cities that we represent, the county's asking for a commitment from the cities that want to get into this, which is called Phase II by as early as the end of this month, and at least by April. And so if the city's willing to meet with the 800 MHz representative, I think what the chief's asking for is a meeting fairly soon, because time is of the essence. And if you don't get in a commitment by the end of March, or April, my understanding [is] that the cost goes up even further for the city. You won't get the advantage of the same interest rate from the loan that would go to the city from the proceeds of these bonds. Is that your understanding as well, Chief?

Walser That's true. The actual cost is $389,000 for the City of Sultan. And I gave Bruce a copy of the cost breakdowns if you want to look at it. And we get a discount of $112,000, I think it is. (I don't have the sheet right in front of me.) But it's fairly significant. You're right. The drop-dead date is March 31^st for us to make a commitment yea or nay. And like I said, I would like to set up a meeting with you for maybe next week? First part of the week? If you could be available. If you folks could give me a date, I'll set the wheels in motion and dovetail with Merlin and the commissioners. This, by the way, includes the city frequencies. These frequencies -- utilities, everything. The whole radio system is going away.

Criswell When do they anticipate going online with this?

Walser Phase I, they're starting, I believe September -- August or September. That will be Lynnwood, Edmonds, South County and the City of Everett. Phase II, which is us, will be January, I believe of 2003. Fourth quarter, 2003. So close to 2004. [end of transcription] Back to top