If all landlines in the area failed, how long it would it take to get emergency communications back up and running?

"One of my first goals as mayor was to build a reliable emergency communications network to provide essential services at all times. We now have redundant equipment at various locations, as well as satellite backup," Mayor Nina Jonas said.

"Cities throughout the nation are facing the issue of a lack of national standards for infrastructure. Landlines and public safety mobile radio systems on different bandwidths do not necessarily communicate with each other, for example," she added. "We devoted a significant amount of staff time to this project. Today we have an exemplary system, and are proud to assist other agencies that want to use and replicate our city communications network for training."

Ketchum has three redundant systems, including satellite technology. Equally important is that Ketchum is one of the first places in the country that has built a communications system from the ground up, incorporating voice, data and video technology and separating emergency communications from voice and data lines used for administrative services. Too many other cities are retrofitting legacy systems based on older technology.

Next weekend's Sun Valley Road Rally, benefiting the Blaine County Drug Coalition, will provide another opportunity for emergency responders from various agencies to use the system. The event allows participants to drive as fast as they like over a closed, 3.2-mile stretch of highway north of Ketchum with some reaching speeds of more than 200 miles per hour.

The previous communications challenge for the rally has been that fire and ambulance personnel, the race safety and logistics teams and the sheriff's department have all had radios operating on different frequencies.

"Thanks to Ketchum, we can bring all of our assets together easily this year, " said Sean Tajkowski, network consultant to the city. In addition, it will be an opportunity for the various departments with mutual aid agreements to practice working together.

Another benefit is the ability to reroute communications in a case of a possible equipment failure. For example, when a backcountry rescue team north of town had equipment difficulties earlier this year, it was able to reroute communications through Ketchum. Boise emergency responders also have practiced rerouting traffic from Albertsons Stadium through Ketchum.

One purpose of the recent training at Ketchum City Hall was to give various participants, as well as Ketchum emergency responders, practice in rerouting communications through systems in neighboring communities.

The project, called the Unified Communications Network, is a cooperative program bringing together all public safety agencies. 

Visitors and residents love our city events and the proposed Ketchum budget continues to provide event support and funding. City events will continue, staff assistance in organizing and managing events will be offered, and city support of Visit Sun Valley event marketing will be available. The only thing that must change is direct cash contributions to non-city events.

In order for the city to fund an event, it must be maintained by the city rather than a private business or nonprofit, must take place on public property and must be suitable for people of all ages.

Ketch'em Alive, Wagon Days, the Pond Hockey Tournament and Skate Park Competition are great examples of the city's popular events.

Along with Ketchum's events, about 50 special events take place annually in the city. In the past, some have received money from the city to support their event. Today, the city can no longer provide financial support to special events in Ketchum, following advice from the city attorney that the current system violates Idaho law.

These changes are the result of a request the city made for legal clarification on the assistance it can provide to special events after a security guard was injured at the MASSV concert in 2012.

The Idaho Constitution specifies that no city may "make a donation or loan its credit" to a private company or association. Events may ask to come under city ownership however, if they wish to do so.

This change will go into effect next fiscal year. In the meantime, the city will honor its funding commitments to events such as the Trailing of the Sheep Festival in October and the Wood River Valley Studio Tour, as those resources already have been committed.

Special events are very important to the community and Ketchum's economy. The city will continue to work on all opportunities within its legal boundaries to support events in Ketchum.

For those who haven't quite caught on, geocaching is best explained as real-world treasure hunting. Individuals and groups alike can hide or seek various trinkets throughout the world, using GPS receivers, cellular phones or other navigational tools to place or locate caches.  

According to geoaching.com, there are currently 2,651,008 active geocaches and more than six million geocachers worldwide. Geocaches are expected to contain trinkets such as pins or small toys, and a finder may take a trinket and replace it with a new one.

The Ketchum Parks & Recreation is offering geocaching as one of many summer activities. Youth ages 8-9 can "find the cache and replace the stash" in either the Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday sessions running through Aug. 13. Online registration is available. 

Ketchum's geocaching planner, Poo Wright-Pulliam, who goes by "Poo," said the parks & recreation department has two main goals in offering geocaching.

"We want to encourage more people to visit our city parks," said Poo. "We also want the kids to learn how to use a GPS and how to treasure hunt -- which I think is very exciting myself. A lot of the caches also help teach lessons about local history."

One local cache can be found in the River Run area and teaches about the Union Pacific Railroad. Another takes a closer look at the Pegram Truss Railroad Bridge, located south of Ketchum and reportedly one of 12 Pegram Truss bridges in existence. The design, patented in 1965, made it easier to move the bridge to a new location and adjust it to fit a span of a different length.  

Each cache is rated according to difficulty of finding it, terrain and size. Additional hints also may be offered if the location is a bit more difficult.  

Geocaching can be a family-oriented activity, allowing parents and their children to explore and learn together.

Geocacher Ellis Mallett

One parks & recreation geocacher, Ellis Mallett, said, "Finding the geocaches is my favorite part. I also like having my family help try to find them."

Another geocacher, Alexandra Stelma, enjoys discovering some of the bigger geocaches since it is easier to see what is inside.  

The city Summer Youth Activity Program is more than 40 years old. It currently provides more than 300 children with fun and challenging summer activities that take place at local parks and regional recreation areas.