Tri-City Herald
May 22, 2003

Umatilla County to retain hold of radio system

This story was published Thu, May 22, 2003

By Kathleen Gilstrap
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON -- Umatilla County will not give up its control of a $9.1 million project to provide a new tactical communications system for emergency agencies, despite a warning in April that it would.

The system would provide reliable communications for emergency workers in Umatilla and Morrow counties in the event of a leak at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty agreed the county would continue to implement the 450-megahertz radio system after the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Plan's governing board on Wednesday agreed to endorse and support plans for a Computer Assisted Dispatch project.

The board also voted to shift $200,000 from the radio system budget to the CAD budget.

The two systems would work together in the event of an emergency but could also operate separately.

In April, Doherty gave a letter to the CSEPP governing board announcing that Umatilla County wanted to give up control of the project. In the letter, he cited "personality, agenda, political and other problems we've had to deal with."

On Wednesday, he told the board that the county would continue to take the lead on the system if it would agree to support the CAD project and funnel funds into its budget. He also said the county would waive administrative fees of 12 percent that it was due in the project's original proposal.

The fees would have compensated the county for staff time spent on the project.

Doherty said the board could afford to shift funds from the radio system because the project is under budget right now, and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is paying much of the bill, "has not said no" to funding the entire CAD project. Doherty and others on the board said they were depending on FEMA to step in with more money if CSEPP came up short.

"If we all endorse this, it will send FEMA a huge message," Doherty said.

Chris Brown, Eastern Oregon State CSEPP manager, told the board he believed FEMA would step in if funds ran short but warned members not to depend on the state for funds if that didn't happen and they found they needed that $200,000.

Morrow County Commissioner John Wenholz wanted Doherty's personal commitment that the radio project would go forward and wanted to hold off on a vote on Doherty's request.

But after Pendleton Fire Chief John Fowler, representing emergency agencies, voiced his support for Doherty's request, Wenholz, too, agreed.

"This is all about first responders, so I have to support this," Wenholz said.

After the meeting, Doherty said it is important to have 12 microwave sites planned throughout the two counties for the radio system completed by this winter. It would be difficult to work on them in the winter because of the terrain.

"We've got to have this system, everybody agrees on that," Doherty said.

The governing board also agreed Wednesday to add a representative from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation as a voting member.