Desk Item.Item #13 - CIP
PREPARED BY: Nicolle Burnham
Director of Parks and Public Works
_________________________________________________________________
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Town Attorney, and Finance Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 03/21/2023 ITEM NO:13 DESK ITEM
DATE: March 21, 2023
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Laurel Prevetti, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Receive Preliminary Fiscal Year 2023/24 – 2027/28 Five-Year Capital
Improvement Program Information and Provide Direction on Project
Priorities
REMARKS:
This desk item is provided to respond to Council Member questions noted below and provide
public comments.
1. What are the opportunities for cost sharing with the users of Creekside for the expense of
turf replacement? Can the general public use Creekside given the use agreements?
Staff is evaluating the opportunity for cost sharing for the artificial turf replacement at
Creekside Park. While some of our user groups have indicated they are willing to cost share
this improvement, no written agreements or funding commitments exist. Based on this, the
Town is carrying the full cost of the turf replacement at this time. As the budget
development progresses, staff will work to confirm and formalize outside funding
commitments. Those commitments will be reflected in the final budget.
The use agreements at Creekside Park allocate 4,000 hours of playing time. The public has
access for any additional hours outside of those 4,000 hours.
2. How is the Town going to pay for the Howe’s park playground replacement? Should it be
included in the list of capital projects or does it come from an Emergency
Repair/Unanticipated Projects fund?
The need to replace Howe’s Playlot is the unfortunate result of the storm of March 14, 2023
and therefore it was not included in the potential future project list. Staff is working with
our insurance carrier to determine if any of the damage may be a recoverable cost, and that
has not been determined at this time.
PAGE 2 OF 3 SUBJECT: Receive Preliminary Fiscal Year 2023/24 – 2027/28 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program Information and Provide Direction on Project Priorities DATE: March 21, 2023
REMARKS (continued):
At this time staff does not have a cost for the playground replacement and will develop one
after the trees can be removed. While the Unanticipated Funds allocation may cover the
repairs, past experience with playground construction suggests that full replacement could
equal or exceed the value of that fund.
The Unanticipated Repairs fund proved critical in 2022 and early 2023 in addressing serious
infrastructure issues that arose in relation to failures in the drainage system and also in the
repair of sidewalks and fencing that resulted from the winter storms. Using that funding to
replace the playground at Howe’s Playlot would leave no funds available to address
emergency issues that may arise in the 2023/24 fiscal year.
3. Are the projects listed in Attachment 4 fully funded for the phase that they are in? If not
what else is needed?
Attachment 4 identifies a number of projects that are not funded through construction.
Some of these are not funded through their current phase including: Town Plaza Turf
Repair (831-4202), Kennedy Road Sidewalk (813-0241), and Shannon Road Stabilization
(811-0008).
4. Does the funding identified in Attachment 3 cover all of the items in Attachment 5?
The funding needs identified in Attachment 5 exceed the funding available in Attachment 3.
After hearing feedback from Town Council on this item, staff will build out the spending
plan. This will be presented in the Proposed Capital Improvement Program for FY 2023/24-
2027/28.
5. How far do you think staff can get on the list for Attachment 5 in the next fiscal year?
After receiving Council feedback about priority projects, staff will chart out the five year
spending plan for the CIP. Tonight’s item is to seek feedback on project priorities for staff
use building out that plan.
6. Why isn’t the table filled out in Attachment 5 for the annual projects?
The spending plan for the annual projects will be built out after Town Council provides their
feedback on priorities.
PAGE 3 OF 3 SUBJECT: Receive Preliminary Fiscal Year 2023/24 – 2027/28 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program Information and Provide Direction on Project Priorities DATE: March 21, 2023
REMARKS (continued):
Attachment 3 contains public comments received between 11:01 a.m., Monday, March 20, and
11:00 a.m., Tuesday, March 21, 2023.
ATTACHMENTS:
Previously received with the Staff Report:
1. Finance Commission Report and Attachments (from 3/13/23 Finance Commission Meeting).
2. Public Comments
Received with this Desk Item:
3. Public Comments
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
From:Peter Hertan
To:Clerk
Cc:Jackie Rose
Subject:Request for Capital Improvement Budget allocation for town Emergency Communications
Date:Monday, March 20, 2023 12:43:36 PM
Attachments:LG Town Emergency Preparedness Capital Budget Request FY24-26 (rev 4).xlsxTown of Los Gatos Capital Budget Request.docx
[EXTERNAL SENDER]
The attached are for consideration during deliberation of item 13 on tomorrow evening’s town
council meeting.
Peter
ATTACHMENT 3
Town of Los Gatos
Town Council Mee�ng – March 21, 2023
Dear Town Council Members,
In recent town council mee�ngs, Patrick Dirks and I outlined Emergency Communica�ons needs
that the town’s emergency communica�ons volunteers have recognized need to be funded.
That funding is needed as soon as possible to reach the level of preparedness called for in
responding to the most likely emergencies we expect to face: fire, earthquakes, and major
storms. Yes, there are other emergencies we train for, but these three require substan�al
mobiliza�on and coordina�on of efforts where normal communica�ons facili�es are likely to be
disrupted.
We have iden�fied five areas in need of moderniza�on and strengthening:
1. The Civilian Emergency Radio System
2. The neighborhood Incident Command Posts (ICPs)
3. The Emergency Opera�ons Center
4. The CERT Trailer
5. Messaging between the EOC, ICPs, and the CERT Trailer
Civilian Emergency Radio System
Just as the na�on’s first responders adopted a modern digital radio network (P25 system)
beginning a decade ago as recommended na�onally by the 911 Commission (because of
interoperability needs, efficiency, and reliability), the same jus�fica�on applies for CERT, DART,
town staff and council to move to a digital radio system. That system is DMR (Digital Mobil
Radio) and is second only to the P25 system for providing the benefits of digital radio
technology. DMR is being adopted by the private sector, as well as ham radio. It has become the
civilian alterna�ve to P25, and has the advantage of more suppliers and lower costs. Finally,
DMR provides dedicated radio frequencies that the FCC assigns exclusively to each license
holder (such as the town of Los Gatos) without the general public having shared access that
would interfere with use during emergencies.
The CERT world adopted GMRS radio-based communica�ons decades ago (before digital radio
was available). GMRS suffers from scarce, shared, radio channels that are used by the general
public for rou�ne cha�ng, resul�ng in congested channels frequently unavailable in
emergencies. In addi�on, there is a need for other groups in town, such as DART and the town
staff to use a common radio system because of coopera�ng ac�vi�es.
In the January heavy rains, the Fron�er land-lines and the Verizon cellular network were down
in certain loca�ons of town for significant amounts of �me causing loss of these facili�es for
coordina�on of civilian ac�vity. While we would like to have GMRS be the backup
communica�on system, that can be problema�c due to the reasons noted above. We are
fortunate that DMR overcomes the limita�ons of GMRS radio.
We have chosen to adopt repeater radio technology that provides both GMRS and DMR
capability so that DMR can be phased in without obsole�ng the investment in GMRS radios.
Civilian Incident Command Posts
Los Gatos has just over 12,000 households. The CERT organiza�on divides the town into 12
CERT “neighborhoods” serving the needs of about 1,000 households each. The objec�ve is to
provide an Incident Command Post (ICP) for each neighborhood as an emergency supplies
depot, a command center, and organizing loca�on. The town, through the Police Department,
has built and fully equipped six such ICPs (Civic Center, Almond Grove, Los Gatos Almaden,
North Santa Cruz/Daves Ave, Belwood, and Vasona/JCC). These are growing and thriving.
However, the other half of Los Gatos is not yet being well-served by the CERT organiza�on. Of
the six other neighborhoods, three have no ICP (or CERT organiza�on: Kennedy East, Blossom
Hill/Shannon, Santa Rosa/Hicks), and three have temporary ICPs, two located in backyards (Vista
Del Monte, and Rinconada), and the Kennedy North/Shannon Fire Sta�on temporary ICP.
Emergency Opera�ons Center (EOC)
The emergency radio communica�ons area of the EOC has been in need of structural
improvement in order to provide a noise-free, good working area for radio communica�ons.
The County EOC, San Jose’s EOC and several other city EOCs, and hospital EOCs provide a
separate room for their emergency radio opera�ons for the same reasons as mo�va�ng our
request in Los Gatos. The solu�on could be a separate room within the Police Opera�ons
Center, or structural changes to the back area of the EOC.
CERT Trailer
The town Police and DART each have mobile command posts, built into trailers. Last year, the
Police Department put new emphasis on the use of the CERT trailer for opera�onal purposes
during emergencies, and began equipping the trailer with modern equipment, supplies and
work areas. It is very close to being completed.
Messaging between the EOC, ICPs, and the CERT Trailer
Voice communica�on is ideal for immediate, short, urgent informa�on. However, during
emergencies, digital (TCP/IP) messaging provides much greater message accuracy and seven
�mes the throughput of voice messaging. The County and the City of San Jose have both
adopted digital technology for messaging during emergencies. Fortunately, our town manager’s
office funded the equipment that provides for Los Gatos to have digital connec�vity between
our EOC and the County (along with the City of San Jose) in an emergency.
However, we all have seen the transi�on from telephone voice calls to text messaging, email,
and other forms of digital messaging. We are fortunate that our residents have at least one
mobile messaging pla�orm: their smartphone, tablet, and/or notebook. But, there is currently
no use of these modern, universal devices, in our Civilian emergency communica�on ac�vi�es.
That is easily remedied by using any one of the emerging low-cost Satellite internet providers to
go between the field and the EOC. We plan to pilot such use star�ng this summer to understand
how best to integrate this technology, long ago adopted by our first responders.
Atached is a spreadsheet with a summary of these Capital Budget items, programmed for
implementa�on in FY24, 25, and 26. We request these funds be provided for use by the Town
Manager’s office and the Police Department.
Respec�ully,
Peter Hertan
Town Emergencies Volunteer
Proposed Capital Improvements Budget Request - FY24-26
Capital Improvements - Essential Emergency Communications FY24 FY25 FY26
CERT Comms Upgrade: GMRS/UHF repeater(s), antennas, & filters $10K $10K $10K
GMRS/UHF portable radios for CERT, DART, Town Staff & Council $20K $15K $15K
ICPs (12): new (3), refurbish (3), & resupply (6)$46K $10K $10K
CERT Trailer buildout $ 5K
EOC improvements (radio room, radios, antennas, filters, roof tower)$35K
Satellite TCP/IP access between the EOC, ICPs & CERT Trailer $15K $10K $10K
Contingency $ 9K $ 5K $ 5K
$140K $50K $50K
Operating Expenses Supplement - Emergency Preparedness FY24 FY25 FY26
Outreach for new CERTs $25K $20K $15K
(rev 5)
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