Subject:
Title
Request America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Second Tranche funding be allocated to (1) Support updating of the Property Appraiser’s GIS Infrastructure and (2) Upgrade of the Brevard County Public Safety Radio System to be P25 compliant.
End
Fiscal Impact:
(1) Up to $1.866M in ARPA funding for the Property Appraiser’s GIS Infrastructure
(2) $1.2M in ARPA funding and $1.03M in municipality user fees for Brevard County’s Public Safety Radio System upgrade
Dept/Office:
Public Safety Group: Emergency Management
Requested Actions:
Recommendation
1. Authorize the use of ARPA funds, not to exceed $1.866M, to partially fund the reconstruction and updating of the Property Appraiser’s GIS Tax Map utilizing Coordinate Geometry.
2. Authorize the use of ARPA funds in the amount of $1.2M to upgrade Brevard County Public Safety Radio System backbone to P25 standards.
3. Having obtained the cities’ concurrence, authorize Emergency Management to invoice municipal users of the Public Safety Radio System a one-time P25 Upgrade charge of $372 per radio (totaling $1.03M), no later than FY24.
4. Authorize the County Manager implement any necessary Budget Change Requests in regards any of the Board’s approved actions.
End
Summary Explanation and Background:
Approval (1): Reconstruction and updating of the Property Appraiser’s GIS infrastructure (Tax map)
The Property Appraiser’s map is a tool commonly used by both the public and private sector. In the 1990’s, the original hand-drawn maps were digitized utilizing the best technology available at the time, but depicted boundary lines are inaccurate by today’s standards. Mapping software have advanced significantly since then and utilizing Advanced Coordinate Geometry (COGO) style maps will solve those accuracy issues and provide a markedly better-quality service to the public, as well as government agencies. The total cost of this effort is estimated to be $2.4M. The county’s share, based on 77% of the total acreage in unincorporated Brevard, is $1.866M.
While not required, updating the GIS infrastructure will not only provide a more accurate assessment of value, but it will also provide Brevard County Departments and Cities with a precise map to more efficiently perform numerous day-to-day functions, including; data analysis, land planning, E-911 addressing, environmental studies, engineering studies, and legal analysis.
Funding and supporting the Property Appraiser’s Office is primarily a County responsibility, However, as this upgrade is not required at this time, the Property Appraiser and County staff has begun to ask Cities to contribute toward as it would significantly benefit cities, the County and the public.
Reconstructing and updating the Tax map utilizing Coordinate Geometry would include data preparation and cleanup, boundary simplification, topology cleanup, edge matching and polygon reconstruction.
By acting now, the estimated cost of the upgrade is lower than would be expected since Brevard can currently partner (piggyback) to get these upgrades with Volusia County which is about to have the upgrades performed. The Property Appraiser estimates that the cost will increase if the project is undertaken when, as is anticipated, the State requires such an update in the future.
Approval (2): Upgrade of the communications backbone of the unified Brevard County Public Safety Radio System to P25 standards.End
The Brevard County 800MHz Public Safety Radio System is an intergovernmental radio communication program; approved under the provision of Section 316.655(6), F.S, and Division of Communications policy. It provides county-wide public safety radio communication to approximately 6,000 users from all the local public safety agencies/departments. P25 is a suite of national standards developed to provide digital, interoperable, and encrypted communication for public safety. P25 offers a multitude of critical benefits to our first responder community including; improved in-building signal strength, geo-location information, cybersecurity defenses, and seamless interoperability with regional public safety agencies. For background and benefits of the P25 Public Safety Radio System, please see the summary document at Attachment 1.
In 2019, the Board authorized the migration of the County radio frequency sites to the P25 core. The need to upgrade became urgent when maintenance and replacement parts for legacy equipment began to be phased out sooner than originally planned. $3.4M is needed to fully upgrade the system. Emergency Management, in close partnership with the cities, developed a strategy to achieve P25 compliance:
• $1.2M in existing 800MHz capital funds
• $1.2M in County ARPA funds (eligible as Emergency Response Radio Systems category)
• $1.03M from municipal radio users (already approved by the cities) via and one-time P25 upgrade charge of $372 per radio, effective in FY 2024 which allows municipalities to plan in future budgets.
|
AGENCY |
NUMBER OF RADIOS IN 2022 |
CONTRIBUTION |
|
Brevard County Sheriff’s Office |
1744 |
$647,818 |
|
Brevard County Fire Rescue |
630 |
$234,017 |
|
Brevard County Departments |
480 |
$178,298 |
|
Brevard County Support Agencies |
363 |
$134,838 |
|
COUNTY ARPA TOTALS |
3,217 |
$1,194,971 |
|
Cape Canaveral |
88 |
$32,688 |
|
Cocoa |
277 |
$102,893 |
|
Cocoa Beach |
209 |
$77,634 |
|
Indialantic |
51 |
$18,944 |
|
Indian Harbour Beach |
78 |
$28,973 |
|
Malabar |
36 |
$13,372 |
|
Melbourne |
585 |
$217,301 |
|
Melbourne Beach |
50 |
$18,573 |
|
Melbourne Village |
14 |
$5,200 |
|
Palm Bay |
577 |
$214,330 |
|
Rockledge |
165 |
$61,290 |
|
Satellite Beach |
111 |
$41,232 |
|
Titusville |
370 |
$137,438 |
|
West Melbourne |
147 |
$54,604 |
|
MUNICIPAL RADIO FEE TOTALS |
2,758 |
$1,024,472 |
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
Send Clerk Memorandum to the County Manager’s Office and Emergency Management.