Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 January 25, 2010 DA 10-124 Joe Schroeder Deputy Director Grundy County Emergency Management Agency 1320 Union St., Room E-01 Morris, IL 60450-2426 Dear Mr. Schroeder: This letter grants your requests, dated December 21, 2009 and January 4, 2010, on behalf of the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency (the County) for a waiver to permit certain Amateur Radio Service licensees who are County employees to transmit communications on behalf of their employer during upcoming government emergency drills. In your requests, you state that the County will be holding exercises on March 24 and July 28, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. You state that these exercises will test emergency communications, particularly amateur radio as a secondary form of communication, in the event of a radiological event at the Braidwood and LaSalle nuclear power plants. The drills will be held at various locations in Grundy County, Illinois. Section 97.113(a)(3) of the Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 97.113(a)(3), prohibits amateur licensees from transmitting communications in which they have a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of an employer. You therefore request a waiver of this rule to permit the following County employees to transmit communications on behalf of their employer in connection with these exercises: Jim Lutz, N9UCP; Joe Schroeder, KC9JYZ; Chris Kindelspire, KC9GCK; and John Watters, KC9KKO. Section 1.3 of the Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.3, provides that the Commission may waive its rules if good cause for waiver is shown. We conclude that grant of the waiver request is appropriate under the circumstances presented. The public interest in facilitating the March 24 and July 28 public safety exercises by permitting the specified amateur licensees to participate warrants this limited waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3). This waiver grant permits transmission of communications by the above-listed amateur employees on behalf of their employer during the March 24 and July 28, 2010 exercises, and immediately prior to the exercises for the purpose of operational testing of equipment. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the waiver requests of the Grundy County Emergency Management Agency, dated December 21, 2009 and January 4, 2010, ARE GRANTED. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131, 0.331. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Scot Stone Deputy Chief, Mobility Division Wireless Telecommunications Bureau