The Tumwater City Council on July 15 authorized the mayor to sign two interlocal agreements with TCOM 9-1-1 to support subscriber radio programming and to host a station alerting gateway at city fire facilities.

Council members acted after a presentation by Chief Hurley of the Tumwater Fire Department, who said the countywide Thurston County Emergency Radio Network (TCERN) supports about 1,550 portable and mobile radios across agencies and that those radios require periodic software updates. Chief Hurley said TCOM plans to host about a dozen Wi‑Fi programming sites countywide so units can park and download updates; Tumwater’s fire station was proposed as one of those sites to simplify local updates.

The council also approved an agreement allowing TCOM to host a station alerting gateway that provides Tumwater access to a digital alerting system without the city buying its own gateway. Chief Hurley said a gateway unit alone costs about $50,000 and that Tumwater already has funding in the current budget for the remainder of the station alerting system for Station 1; Station 2 would be considered during a planned remodel.

Supporters said the systems improve interoperability with neighboring counties and partner agencies, increase situational awareness for crews, and provide graduated lighting and volume alerts that reduce the abrupt wake cycles associated with older systems. Chief Hurley and other speakers said the digital system can patch channels to Pierce, Lewis and Mason counties for mutual aid and that radios now include multiple zones and 16 channels for partner-agency communication.

Councilmember Leeta Dollhoff moved to authorize the mayor to sign the subscriber radio programming agreement; Kelly VonHoltz seconded. The motion passed by voice vote. Later, VonHoltz moved to authorize the mayor to sign the station alerting gateway hosting agreement; the motion was seconded and also carried by voice vote.

The agreements are interlocal technical arrangements; they do not by themselves change policy or budget appropriations beyond using the already-budgeted station alerting funds and accepting TCOM’s hosted gateway. Council discussion included questions about the frequency of updates (Chief Hurley said generally once or twice a year), how the station alerting interacts with personal phone alerts, and whether the city could measure wellness or response benefits as the system is used.

No ordinance or budget appropriation was adopted at the meeting beyond the recorded authorizations; the approvals were voice-vote motions recorded in the minutes.