Committee Rallies for Return of Grand Terrace Radio

A group of residents who say Grand Terrace is missing a vital asset have also said they are pushing to bring it back. For nearly five months, Grand Terrace's radio station 1640 AM, which provides emergency operations information and information about other goings on in the city, has been off the air - and its volunteer operators are working to get it back up and running; but they've hit roadblocks created by the city, they say. The station closed temporarily after a pipe in its operating building, behind City Hall, burst in February and caused flooding and damage, explained members of the Emergency Operations Center committee, the volunteers who run the station. Committee member Connie Parsons claimed disagreements between the committee and city staff on how the building should be used have kept volunteers from moving back in and getting the station on air. Parsons claimed the city was responsible for making repairs to the damage, but that station volunteers were being kept from moving back into the building. "The city is digging its heels in and don't want us to move back in," said Parsons, whose husband Pete helped bring the station to the city about eight years ago. "I don't understand. They're not giving any reason." Community member Denis Kidd claimed city staff wanted to use the building for storage, but former Interim City Manager Carol Jacobs, whose last day in the post was last Friday, refuted claims that the city was causing delays and said necessary building repairs must be made before it’s reopened. "Significant damage was done and it takes time to get insurance out to repair that," said Jacobs, "but this has also given us time to see if that's the best location for the EOC and the radio station. "At one time, volunteers had unfettered access to that building, but access has since been restricted to the hours of City Hall," said Jacobs, who said that safety concerns were another reason the city was evaluating whether that building was the best place from which to broadcast the radio station. "As a safety issue, we have a public yard and I'm very uncomfortable with people being behind the gates of the city." Paul Tickner, EOC committee chair, said it was a surprise when the city moved the committee’s HAM equipment to the San Bernardino County Fire Station 23 on City Center Court. "The City contacted the (San Bernardino) County Office of Emergency Services and kept the EOC committee out of the loop," said Tickner. "They moved our HAM radio communications equipment to the fire station, which is contracted by the county. I think the city has been trying to come up with some alternatives, but the solid fact is they don't want us back in that building." Parsons and Tickner both expressed concern about operating emergency equipment out of the fire station and the radio station out of City Hall, which is what city staff wants, they said. "In an emergency, it would not be good to have us all the way at the fire station," said Parsons. "We would be much farther away from City Hall and in a disaster most people are likely to head to City Hall," said Parsons. "Besides that, there is no room at the fire station." "We are working with experts who are going to tell us what we can and can't do at City Hall" in regards to broadcasting the radio station from there, Jacobs said when asked about concerns from the EOC committee that radio signals would be audible on City Hall telephones due to unprotected wires. "There's concern any time you have emergency operations and only one person knows how to do it. That's dangerous, so we're trying to turn them in the right direction. Part of that is physically moving them out of the building and into the fire department. There are people there 24/7, and HAM operators can be there and scheduled," she said. "The committee and the city are just not seeing eye-to-eye on the ease and necessity of having both the emergency system and the radio in the same location," said Tickner. "It is a vital issue in an emergency." "The ratio station needs to get back on the air," said Kidd. "Otherwise, we're going to lose an important asset to the city, and we don't want to lose it." Jacobs said, "I think the EOC Committee is a valuable organization and city staff is happy to work with them. I'm sorry it's taken so long to get things changed and adjusted." Grand Terrace's new city manager, G. Harold Duffey, said by phone Tuesday that the building is in need of clean up and remodeling, and costs must be approved by the council before staff can begin the work. "The work exceeds the dollar amount that staff can do without the council's authority. It's about $23,000 for a complete clean up and a slight remodel to update some things and make sure it's a usable property," said Duffey. "We're eagerly working with (the EOC committee)." Duffey said staff will go before the council on June 23 to request the funds for the clean up. Vic Pfenninghausen, former ECO committee chair and the station's volunteer engineer, said the delays are detrimental to the city and its residents, because no emergency operation information has been broadcast, information on goings on - like community and senior events - have been relayed, and emergency drills have not been broadcast in months. "The people in the committee don't like it and the people in Grand Terrace, if they knew about it, wouldn't like that the EOC is jeopardized. There's just been a lot of bad decisions made."