PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: April 30, 2025
Subject: Community Warning System
Submitted For: David Livingston, Sheriff-Coroner
Department: Office of the Sheriff
Presenter: Julie Beach, CWS Manager and Leslie Monroy, Senior Emergency Planner
Contact: Enid.Mendoza@cao.cccounty.us
Referral History:
The matter of the Multi-Language Capability of the Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS) / Community Warning System (CWS) had been on referral to the Internal Operations Committee since 2000 and was later reassigned to the Public Protection Committee (PPC) in 2008.
The PPC met with Sheriff and Health Services Department staff in March 2008 to receive an update on the County’s efforts to implement multilingual emergency telephone messaging. The Committee learned that the Federal Communications Commission had before it two rulemaking proceedings that could directly affect practices and technology for multilingual alerting and public notification. Additionally, the federally-funded Bay Area “Super Urban Area Safety Initiative” (SUASI) had selected a contractor to undertake an assessment and develop a five-year strategic plan on notifications of public emergencies, with an emphasis on special needs populations. The Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services reported to the PPC in April 2009 that little had changed since the March 2008 report.
On October 18, 2010, the PPC received a report from the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services on the Community Warning and Telephone Emergency Notification systems, and on developments at the federal level that impact those systems and related technology. Sheriff staff concluded that multilingual public emergency messaging at that time was too complex to be implemented at the local level and should instead be initiated at the state and federal levels. New federal protocols were being established to provide a framework on which technological industries and local agencies could work to develop such capabilities.
In 2011, the Office of the Sheriff reported that there were still no extraordinary developments in terms of language translation for emergency notifications. They also reported being on the SUASI project’s contact list for participation in the workgroup that would be developing a gap analysis, needs assessment, and five-year strategic plan.
On September 18, 2012, following the Richmond Chevron refinery fire, the Board of Supervisors established an ad hoc committee to discuss the Community Warning System and Industrial Safety Ordinance. Since that committee is ad hoc in nature, the PPC recommended that the CWS issue remain on referral to the PPC.
The PPC received two updates on this issue in 2015; one on April 13, 2015 and one on November 9, 2015. Following the November 2015 discussion, the Committee requested the Sheriff's Office to return in six months with an update.
On May 23, 2016, the Committee received an update from the Sheriff's Office on the status of the TEN system and directed staff to provide a summary of the CWS/Emergency services protocols for future review of the Committee and prepare a handout in both English and Spanish that summarized emergency services protocols.
On October 18, 2016, the Board of Supervisors referred a review of the AtHoc, Inc. (now a division of BlackBerry) contract to the PPC for additional review and discussion and on October 24, 2016, the Committee met to discuss this item. AtHoc Inc., was a full-service alert and warning company specializing in fixed siren systems and emergency notification systems. Alerting Solutions, Inc., also provided support for the Contra Costa County Community Warning System, which at that time consisted of 25 separate and linked control centers, monitoring systems, and communication systems between emergency responders, sirens (40), and other alerting devices (700+), and automated links to radio and television stations serving the community. Representatives from the Sheriff's Office were present to discuss the item and its importance to the County's Community Warning System (CWS) operations. Following that discussion, the Committee recommended that the contract be rescheduled to the Board of Supervisors' agenda for approval but directed staff to continue reporting on CWS operating contracts on a periodic basis. Since the PPC had an existing referral on the CWS telephone electronic notification system (TENS), this referral was combined with the TENS referral with the expectation that the Committee would receive coordinated updates on both issues in the beginning in 2017.
The PPC did not receive updates on this topic from 2017- 2019 and recommended the continuation of this referral to the 2020 Committee due to ongoing interest in monitoring the implementation of a multi-lingual telephone ring down system and ongoing CWS issues.
The PPC also did not receive updates on this topic from 2020-2023 and next considered this referral in 2024. At its March 4, 2024, meeting, the Committee directed staff to terminate the TENS piece of the referral and refer the CWS contracts piece of the referral to the Industrial Safety Ordinance/Community Warning System Ad Hoc Committee.
On August 13, 2024, the BOS approved, in its response to the Civil Grand Jury, assignment of all emergency response planning, including CWS issues as a whole, to the Emergency Services Policy Board, which also serves as the County’s Disaster Council.
Committee meeting cancelations, due to scheduling conflicts, resulted in the 2024 Committee’s year-end Annual Report with all referral dispositions and Committee recommendations not being considered until the February 18, 2025 PPC meeting. The 2025 Committee membership includes District II and IV supervisors, whereas the 2024 Committee membership included District I and V supervisors. The newly appointed members discussed this topic extensively and voted to continue this referral with the PPC and directed staff to include this recommendation in a report to the full Board at the next available Supervisors meeting. The Committee discussion highlighted the Community Warning System being part of a countywide system, used for more than industrial accidents, for critical public safety emergencies and evacuations with varying serious incidents like wildfires, law enforcement activity, missing persons and other events where timely notification is necessary to communicate and resolve a serious situation. The Committee’s recommendation sought continuance of countywide oversight of all public safety emergency notifications, separate from the focus of the Board’s Industrial Safety Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee and ordinance compliance by local refineries.
Ultimately, the Committee recommended, and the Board approved, to continue this referral to the PPC, with its members working with the Emergency Services Policy Board, which also serves as the County’s Disaster Council.
Referral Update:
Committee staff worked with the Office of the Sheriff upon Board approval of the continuance of this referral topic to the PPC, and it was agreed that due to the length of time since this topic was last presented to the Committee, a comprehensive introductory report would be the most helpful for discussion and Committee direction to staff. Attached is the Sheriff’s Office report and presentation.
Staff from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District and Contra Costa Health Services Hazardous Materials division will also be in attendance should any emergency response, evacuation, or preparedness topics within their purview be discussed.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
ACCEPT the update from the Office of the Sheriff on the County’s Community Warning System and PROVIDE feedback and direction to staff, as needed.
Fiscal Impact (if any):
There is no fiscal impact - this is an informational report.