By Ed Somers
July 12, 2004

On June 28, as part of the Homeland Security Task Force meeting, the Conference released its first interoperable communications survey finding serious challenges for cities.

The meeting was co-chaired by Mayors Martin O'Malley of Baltimore and David Wallace of Sugar Land (TX), and also focused on key issues including first responder funding and regional logistics centers.

Since 9-11, the Conference has been pushing for increased funding for interoperable communications funding, as well as working on technical issues. The new survey findings include some encouraging data: 77 percent of the cities report interoperable capability across police and fire departments; and 74 percent report that they are interoperable with neighboring city police and fire departments.

However, the findings also include challenging data. For example, 80 percent of the cities say they do not have interoperable communications with the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice.

Cities under 100,000 reported an average of $4.7 million in interoperable funding is needed to achieve full interoperability; $5.4 million on average for cities of 100,001 to 400,000; and $30 million on average for cities over 400,000.

75 percent of the cities reported that they have not received nor been notified that they will be receiving federal funds for interoperable communications, and 58 percent of the cities report that distributing the majority of homeland security funding through the states has delayed investment in interoperable communications equipment.

Among the major city-to'state findings: 54 percent of the cities report that the city has not been included as part of the state's interoperability assessment; and 57 percent said that they do not have interoperable capability with the state emergency management agency.

Major communication problems also exist between cities and chemical plants, rail facilities and seaports.

Also of concern is the age of the communications systems, and 75 percent of the survey cities indicated that different radio frequencies hinder emergency communications between cities.

The survey was sponsored by Motorola. Joining the task force to discuss the survey and "mission critical communications" was Barry Lambergman, Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs for Motorola, Inc.

Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic and Josh Filler from the Department of Homeland Security updated the mayors on the findings contained in the recently released report by the Department of Homeland Security's State and Local First Homeland Security Funding Task Force. Plusquellic served as Vice Chair of the DHS Task Force, which was formed by Secretary Ridge after President Bush pledged to help "unstick" the more than $7 billion sent through the states.

Among the key DHS Task Force recommendations were: exemption from reimbursement provisions; overtime; funding for incremental operational costs such as the protection of critical infrastructure and major events; changes in local procurement systems; automated grant tracking; and deadlines for the obligation of grants from one level of local government to another.

The importance of these recommendations was made clear by the 3rd Conference of Mayors Homeland Security Monitoring Survey released in Boston, and the Conference adopted a resolution calling on Congress to immediately approve the changes.

O'Malley and Wallace also provided an update on reauthorization and funding bills related to homeland security (see charts at usmayors.org).

Overall funding for key Department of Homeland Security programs that help cities is going down for FY 2005. Funding is going up for high threat areas, but funding is being drastically reduced for state block grant money, both as recommended by the Administration. The Conference adopted a resolution opposing homeland security funding cuts.

On the issue of reauthorization, the major bill in the Senate, S. 1245 sponsored by Senator Collins (ME), would provide high threat money directly to urban areas, and would allow funding to be used for overtime. The major bill in the House, H.R. 3266 sponsored by Representative Cox (CA), would allow local regions to apply directly for funding.

Major formula battles between larger and small states are going on in both the House and Senate, and the fate of these bills is unclear.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by Wallace on "Regional Logistics Centers: A Best Practice Approach for Homeland Security." Wallace has been working with private'sector partners to develop a model program that would create regional stockpiles for equipment needed to respond to a WMD event.

Wallace said that this system would create efficiency and encourage regional cooperation, but at the same time guarantee that each city in a region have a seat at the table in managing the federal money they are allocated by the state.