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03 26 2009 Board Meeting NEW HANOVER COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER 230 Government Center Dr, Suite 185 Wilmington, NC 28403 Phone: (910) 798-6921 Fax: (910) 798-6925 E-mail: stsmith@nhcgov.com Steve Smith Director Memorandum To: Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board Members From: Steve Smith, Director Subject: March 26, 2009 Board Summary Date: March 30, 2009 A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 10:00 AM in the Emergency Operating Center, 220 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Sterling Powell Jon Rorie, Excused Andre’ Mallette Larry Bergman, Excused Robbie Matheson Leslie Stanfield, Excused Warren Lee Tom Eason Ron Jordan Dorian Flowers Steve Smith Jerry Brewer Cynthia Deacon Michael Core William Younginer Jan Kavanaugh Guests Mary Smith, City of Wilmington Police Dept Helen Nelson, NHC IT Susan Rossiter, NHC PSCC Debora Cottle, NHC PSCC Genia Boswell, City of Wilmington Fire Dept Brett Ham, NHC Fire Services Andrew Curd, Motorola Mike Cavaluzzi, Motorola Jason Adams, Wireless/Motorola Robert Llora, Motorola Wayne Pearce, NHC Emergency Management Chairman Powell called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m. He asked if everyone had a chance to review the minutes from February 2009 and if there were any questions, comments, changes or corrections. No one had any. Chairman Powell asked if there was a motion to approve the minutes. Michael Core made a motion and Tom Eason seconded. All agreed. Motion passed. OLD BUSINESS: 800 MHz Rebanding Update Chairman Powell asked Warren to update everyone on the rebanding. Warren stated that the templates everyone turned in are in Charlotte with Dave Walton. When they are completed, they will be turned over to Robert Llora to verify and correct as needed. After this is completed, they will be returned to the respective agencies. Eric Mattingly with Hicaps is developing a method of procedure of programming for all radios. Bob Hamlin is working on the schedule of the tuning for the radios. He doesn’t have a start date yet but looks like it will start at the end of May. The estimate is about 4-1/2 weeks for the non-public safety radios which is where we will start. It will take about 20 weeks to complete Public Safety radios. They want to start with non-public safety radios first to make sure it is going to be a smooth transition so that there are no glitches with the public safety radios. Bob is coming on Monday (March 30, 2009) and hopefully he will have a copy of the schedule. As soon as Warren has it, he will share it with each agency. They are projecting they should be able to do about 30 radios per day. It is moving forward but it is moving slow. Chairman Powell asked if everyone got their templates in and Warren informed him that they had turned them in to Bob Hamlin. IT Jan stated she did not have any updates from IT. Fire Dispatch Chairman Powell asked if Dorian could update everyone on the Fire Dispatch. Dorian stated that during the merging of City/County dispatch channels, there will be a test period. The two will be merged during this test period through a soft patch. There is a timeline. This committee is setting up policies such as how telecommunicators would deal with this on their end. Once the test period is done, they will review any issues they face with this merge that were unforeseen. There would then be a hard patch created from the existing to a third channel to make this as seamless as possible to the end user. Once this is completed the two current fire channels would be allocated as additional TAC channels. The new fire dispatch channel would be set up to make it run seamlessly after the test is completed. Center Safety Warren stated that when the EOC and the 9-1-1 Center was constructed, money was not included for a clean agent system. We currently have a “pre-action” fire control system; it’s essentially a dry pipe and when there is a fire it releases water into the pipe. As of today they are installing a clean agent system in the 9-1-1 Center. NEW BUSINESS Public Safety Communications Steve announced that he and Brenda were retiring at the end of May. With the financial situation as it stands, Warren will be the Director for Emergency Management and Public Safety. The combining of both departments saves the County from rehiring those vacated positions which will be frozen for now. This also will save the County money which is a plus during this financial situation. Warren already has an in depth knowledge of the Public Safety Department and the radios. Warren stated that this will not change anything inside the Center. The position changes will be that Debora Cottle will assume a Deputy Director role of the Public Safety branch. She will continue with the same duties plus additional duties. Susan Rossiter will still do the training and assist with other duties. Within Emergency Management, Wayne Pearce will assume a Deputy leadership role. Filling positions is not possible now and this is the way it will be for about a year or more. The name of this combination of the two departments has not been decided as of yet but it is being worked on. So far the name Warren is leaning towards is New Hanover County Emergency Management and 9-1-1 Communications. Steve, Warren and Andre’ will meet to go over the By-Laws. They will ensure that this change and the naming of the department does not conflict with the By-Laws. Andre’ said that there would not be a service disruption and reducing the numbers in the Center was not considered. A decision was made with the financial situation, the retirements and the positions frozen or that were involved in a reduction of forces, to experience the savings from this that the positions vacated would be frozen for at least a year. The positions were administration so there should not be an impact to the agencies that the Center dispatches for and the service should be maintained. There have been three positions approved Tuesday to fill for the Center. We are committed to maintaining your service. Everyone will be wearing different hats, Andre’ is included in this as he will assume the role of HR Director as well as Assistant County Manager for a year. Public Safety has stayed a priority for the County Managers and hopefully everyone will work together. Steve stated that monthly stats for the agencies were emailed. If anyone has not received them and would like them, please let Lynn know. Steve has requested a retirement letter be included in the minutes. (Copy attached). Chairman Powell asked if anyone had any new business and all responded no. Chairman Powell adjourned the meeting at 10:31 a.m. MEMORANDUM To: PSCC Board From: Steve Smith Subject: Retirement Date: March 26, 2009 I have decided to take advantage of the County’s retirement incentive and will retire as of June 1, 2009. When I entered service with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office on July 11, 1977, I never expected to live such a magnificent adventure as what has unfolded over the past three decades. I can only hope that, through the opportunities I have had to serve my community, I have made some small difference. Since becoming part of the Public Safety Communications Center in November, 2001, many things have been accomplished; yet there is much still to be done in the dynamic and evolving area of public safety communications. However, I am comfortable that the personnel in place are up to any future challenges. I am very proud of them and humbled to have been associated with each one. I thank the Board for its support and guidance the past seven years. Participation has been consistent and provided a platform to share in decision-making on critical issues. That sort of cooperation was exactly the point in forming the Center as a stand-alone department. I leave my position with not only a feeling of success and fulfillment for the past, but, more importantly, faith and confidence in the future of the Public Safety Communications Center. My last working day will be May 29, 2009 and I plan to be here each day until then. Thank you. NEW HANOVER COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER 230 Government Center Dr, Suite 185 Wilmington, NC 28403 Phone: (910) 798-6921 Fax: (910) 798-6925 Steve Smith, Director E-mail: stsmith@nhcgov.com