Orange County approves $869,000 state communications grant and $5 million EOC upgrade for real-time public-safety intelligence

Orange County legislators voted to accept a 2024 State Interoperable Communications Grant (SICG) and approved a $5,000,000 capital appropriation to upgrade the county's emergency operations center into a real-time intelligence center, the Legislature's public safety committee heard.

The SICG funds, described in the meeting as $869,000.38, cover fiber connectivity between the county Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system and remote locations, maintenance and proactive monitoring of the county's P25 radio tower system, and replacement/upgrade of radio console equipment. Deputy Commissioner Schmid described the grant purpose: "Just to, elaborate on the grant, fiber connectivity is from our CAD system for 9 1 1 to, remote locations, also for our radio system, maintenance, which is ongoing every year, and, monitoring, including cybersecurity monitoring and radio equipment for consoles." The committee voted to accept and appropriate the funds (legislative request 154).

Separately, the department presented a capital project proposal to create a real-time intelligence center that would add analysts and integrate more live video and traffic feeds into 911 operations. Commissioner Sirigliano said the county already has consolidated 911, 311 and emergency management in one building and that the upgrade would "gut our interior" and modernize hardware and software so dispatchers get more live information. The request would create a new capital project (project 63 in the 2025 capital plan) and allocate $5,000,000 from general funds assigned to the Public Safety Enhancement Fund balance to the capital budget (legislative request 147). The committee approved the appropriation.

During discussion, committee members asked about construction and integration timelines. Sirigliano told legislators he has a consultant engaged and was "hopeful by fall of next year" for initial progress and optimistic about being operational within roughly a year, and emphasized that the work "will not impact the day to day" 911 operation while the build proceeds.

The county framed the upgrade as intended to support all public-safety disciplines — fire, EMS, law enforcement and emergency management — by giving dispatchers analysts' input and access to additional camera and sensor feeds. No separate outside approvals were cited during the hearing.

Implementation details noted in the presentation included using the SICG funds for fiber connectivity to municipalities, P25 tower maintenance and monitoring, cybersecurity monitoring, and radio console equipment. The capital project description emphasized interior renovations, new hardware and software, and integration with existing county programs such as school mapping.