BCC approves grant request for VATICAL
From our weekly issue dated July 29, 2009
A conditional $25,000 economic development grant for a security firm was OK’d 2-1 by the Josephine County Board of Commissioners during its Tuesday, July 21 administrative meeting at the courthouse in Grants Pass.
The grant approval followed a presentation by Herb Carter and Gerard Fitzgerald from Public Safety Inventions (PSI), of Grants Pass. The start-up business is promoting a security system, Victim and Threat Isolating Communicator and Locator (VATICAL), for public buildings.
Prior to the presentation, Fitzgerald, PSI’s director of marketing, said that he had to address some of the “disinformation” surrounding the product.
“VATICAL is not, I repeat, is not, any kind of listening device for any kind of government agency at all,” Fitzgerald said. “What it is, is the next phase and the future of public safety.”
Fitzgerald said that VATICAL is “no different” from programs like First Alert and On-Star. He added that users are the only ones who can activate it.
“It is not activated remotely by anybody else for any other reason,” he said.
In the instance of an emergency, Fitzgerald said, VATICAL’s listening devices can be activated “so you can get eyes on the scene and first responders get information about what’s going on.”
VATICAL has the ability to isolate victims from a threat during armed intruder incidents, Fitzgerald said. He said that it has “unique features that allow it to do much, much more than any security system has ever been able to do before.”
He also stated that the system can send a touch-screen presentation of the facility involved to emergency personnel as they respond. It also can differentiate between separate emergencies at the same time, and can track perpetrators as they move throughout a building.
“It isolates them from any knowledge of what’s going on around them,” Fitzgerald said.
Carter, PSI’s chief executive officer, said that assembly and manufacturing plants will be needed to mass-produce VATICAL, along with engineers. He said that within five years, PSI anticipates hiring 25 people in its early stages, but that it will create or retain between 200 and 225 jobs throughout the long-term.
Commissioner Sandi Cassanelli objected to economic development dollars going to PSI.
“I don’t want VATICAL,” Cassanelli said.
Fitzgerald countered that PSI is trying to create jobs locally. He added that the company is asking for a “nominal amount” of money from the county as a sign of “good faith.” He had previously stated that PSI has been contacted by municipalities in Southern California, Maryland and Virginia to try and get the company to relocate.
But Cassanelli rejected those arguments in a series of edgy exchanges with Carter and Fitzgerald. She said that she is unconvinced of the need to keep PSI in the area.
“I don’t want to see it here,” she said. “Let it go to Virginia.”
Board Chairman Dwight Ellis said that he would support the company’s request under the conditions that it be registered with the state and receive a matching $25,000 grant from Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc.
Commissioner Dave Toler moved to approve the request with those conditions. Ellis seconded, and the motion passed with Cassanelli dissenting.
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