East Oregonian 12/10/2008
Public safety agencies want to keep CSEPP communication setup
By Samantha Bates
Umatilla and Morrow Counties may need a special taxing district to support the 450-megahertz radio system installed by the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program in 2004.
CSEPP and Umatilla County Emergency Management representative Shawn Halsey brought this idea before the Umatilla County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council (LPSCC) Tuesday.
Halsey said the 450 system is used by 13 facilities in Umatilla, Morrow, Benton and Klickitat counties. In Umatilla County that includes the cities of Pendleton, Hermiston and Echo, along with rural fire departments in Umatilla, Stanfield, Pilot Rock, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the East Umatilla Rural Fire Department.
Up until now federal dollars through CSEPP have paid for and maintained the system. For the past several years a user board has been looking at the problem of what to do after CSEPP is gone.
The Hermiston Herald 09/01/2008
CSEPP radio system needs tax support
Fire chief says federal money disappearing
Mike Roxbury, Umatilla fire chief, is proposing a new tax district for the continued operation of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) radio system.
After the Umatilla Chemical Depot finishes disposing its chemical munitions, Roxbury told the Echo City Council recently, the federal money that is supporting the radio system will dry up.
Most emergency and law enforcement agencies in Umatilla and Morrow counties rely on the CSEPP radio system for communications, he said. Without it they will have to install and upgrade old radios, which will be costly and drastically reduce their ability to communicate.
Also, a new Federal Communications Commission rule that all public safety radio systems be "narrowbanded," or changed from 25 kHz-wide channels to 12.5 kHz-wide channels by 2013 means the old radios would have to be further upgraded, and their coverage areas reduced.
"It's not really, are we going to have to pay, but who are we going to have to pay and how much," Roxbury said.