Memorandum
Date: February 11, 2025
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: District 1 Supervisor, Helen Owen
District 2 Supervisor, Bruno Sabatier
Subject: Consideration tentative approval of annual cost of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio (NWR) on Mount St Helena
Executive Summary:
Lake County is no stranger to wildfires and its impacts to our communication services. Ensuring redundancy of communication services can be vital in the midst of an ongoing disaster. NWR broadcast in Lake County is limited, especially in the south county areas such as Middletown, Hidden Valley, Lower Lake, Clearlake, and Clearlake Oaks. Currently, towers located in surrounding counties provide coverage for the other areas not listed above, mostly from the NWR broadcast coming from the Ukiah area. While NWR broadcast is rarely used in emergency situations, ensuring redundancy in communication service during such emergencies can have a huge impact on first responders responding to the emergency and for residents to be informed during a disaster.
In the past, Lake County has looked at installing the equipment needed for a NWR broadcast to cover the south county areas as listed above on Mount St Helena. The approximate cost of the equipment was $40,000 with an approximate rental space of the towers on St Helena for $16,000 per year.
Middletown Rancheria had received a grant to help pay for the equipment and the first three years, but due to a lack of commitment for future years, the funding was denied to be used for the NWR broadcast from Mount St Helena.
We are requesting the Board of Supervisors consider tentative approval of committing funds for this project prior to requesting all parties to continue the discussion regarding getting a NWR broadcast activated on Mount St. Helena. This would allow for negotiations on rental cost and payment of the equipment and bring it back to the board with final options.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
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☐ Well-being of Residents ☐ Public Safety ☐ Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Recovery
☐ Economic Development ☐ Infrastructure ☐ County Workforce
☐ Community Collaboration ☐ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake
Recommended Action: Approve a tentative approval of annual cost of NWR Broadcast from Mount St Helena to re-open discussion regarding cost and logistics of the project.