The Office of the Sheriff-Coroner desires to install telecommunications equipment on property owned by the City of Brentwood, both on the ground and at or near the top the of a communications tower, for use by licensee, licensor, and other local, state and federal emergency response agencies. The goal of the Vislink Helicopter Digital Downlink Project, as supported by the Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), is to enhance the ability of the County to conduct damage assessments of terrorist and/or catastrophic events, recovery operations, threat identification, risk management, intelligence collection and dissemination, and mass Search and Rescue operations within the region by providing government officials and first responders with real-time, accurate intelligence gathering capabilities. The helicopter downlink receiver sites provide a continuous flow of mission critical voice, data and imagery/video information among multi-jurisdictional and multidisciplinary emergency responders, command posts, agencies and Bay Area governmental officials for the duration of an emergency response operation or critical incident. This expansion of this project to the east county area expands the coverage area and provides a broader ability to provide real-time information to decision makers from a variety of platforms with greater mobility. The Brentwood antenna site has been chosen for several reasons, including the relative north/south centrality of the location along the urban/suburban interface. This site provides a relatively flat topography, minimizing transmission shadow for the coverage area for the east county communities. Also, the tower being employed already exists as a public safety communications tower on the East Bay Regional Interoperable Communications System (EBRICS) at a secure location with an allied law enforcement agency.
Should the Board of Supervisors not approve the License Agreement, the county will be unable to comply with the language of the Digital Downlink Grant Project. We would be forced to attempt to find another antenna site which may or may not be possible. We would also be required to request a major extension and project change request which, if denied would result in the county bearing the cost of the already received Vislink equipment at a cost of approximately $187,340.00.