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would pay for future maintenance of the towers and computers through the County, and each agency would assume responsibility for the equipment used within its jurisdiction. We think the radio system, siren interface, and E-911 would cost about $100 million or about $9 Million annually to cover bond payments, based on the RCC study. In 1996, there was a huge tanker truck explosion at I-170 and Eager Road in Brentwood. Many agencies responded. Once again, radio communications were a problem because our radios are not compatible with our neighbors, calls overloaded and therefore paralyzed the system. Stronger radios in vehicles drowned out our weaker radios on the hip and so on. Then Brentwood Police Chief William Karabas reported the problems to other police and fire chief associations and they asked him to pull together some knowledgeable people to recommend a solution. The group collected information and a few studies were done. Eventually the County, the League and the Chiefs asked the state legislature to pass a law creating a County Emergency Communication Commission in 2002, which Chief Karabas chairs. The County then did a more complete concept study at the request of the Commission a few years ago. More recently, the regional study by East West Gateway was done, that shows how all the counties in the region could eventually be able to communicate together. Washington, D.C. created one of the first systems and it was given very high marks when the Pentagon was attacked on 9/11. Hundreds of responders from many different agencies could talk to each other. It also worked very well in 2002 during the sniper shootings that went on for a few weeks in several counties. In the counties that were on the new system, all the first responders could talk with each other. When the snipers went to the outlying counties that were not on the new system, the communications broke down, many had to rely on cell phones. Minneapolis also has this new type of system. During the bridge collapse, it handled 114,397 calls in 6 hours with very few delays (In the new system, radios are prioritized in major emergencies so that calls from these radios go thru first, for that frequency, and "less important radios" are put in cue. About 20 frequencies can be shared by all users very efficiently, rather than each department being limited to its own frequency. In our current decentralized system in St. Louis, some frequencies become overloaded, while other frequencies sit underutilized). RCC Consultants is basing our system estimates on the cost of other systems, but adjusted for our number of users, number of dispatching centers, availability of existing towers, etc. If we do not take a county-wide approach, some cities will have money or raise their own taxes to proceed on a more expensive, piece-meal basis. 2. For job creation, the League members endorsed using about $4 million to expand the very successful county small business incubator program and to stimulate the creation of "green collar" jobs, in part to address the need to lesson foreign oil dependence, in part to position St. Louis County to catch the wave of industry growth in this field, and in part to send a signal to decision makers, such as those businesses who might be considering relocating or expanding here, that we are progressive when it comes to the environment. 3. For parks, the League members endorsed making our county and municipal parks more than just ADA accessible (although amendments to the ADA go into affect on Jan. 1, 2009), by making the parks even more inviting to