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04 23 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: April 23, 2009 Board Summary Date: April 27, 2009 A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday, April 23, 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 Robbie Matheson, Excused Leslie Stanfield Dorian Flowers, Excused Warren Lee Tom Eason Ron Jordan Steve Smith Jerry Brewer Cynthia Deacon Michael Core William Younginer Larry Bergman Guests Mary Smith, City of Wilmington PD Mike Arkinson, NHC IT Wayne Pearce, NHC Emergency Management Jan Kavanaugh, NHC IT Genia Boswell, City of Wilmington FD Mike Cavaluzzi, Wireless/Motorola Motorola Donnie Williams, City of Wilmington PD Jason Adams, Wireless/Motorola Tom Eason introduced a visitor to the meeting for today, Lieutenant Donnie Williams from WPD and Leslie introduced her sons Charles and Christopher, they are participating in Take Your Children to Work Day. Chairman Powell called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. He asked if everyone had a chance to review the minutes from March 23, 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. William Younginer made a motion and Larry Bergman seconded. All agreed. Motion passed. OLD BUSINESS: 800 MHz Rebanding Update Chairman Powell asked Warren to update everyone on the rebanding. Warren stated that they had their weekly conference call on Monday and everything is moving forward, they are working on the co-plugs which are under development in Charlotte. Jason did state he is building the co-plugs here and sending them to Raleigh. Motorola has started shipping out replacements for the non-public safety departments. Jason has been provided with spare radios they are going to program for Animal Control templates. They are giving it a week to make sure they are operative. From there they will move on to Cape Fear Public Utilities, County Schools and Parks and Rec. Chairman Powell asked how the City was moving with going digital. Larry stated that Police was the main group, then Fire. When asked about the completion, they stated that they estimated about another month and Fire would be after that. Fire Dispatch Chairman Powell asked if Wayne could update everyone on the Integrated Fire Dispatch. It is coming along pretty good but they have some issues, one of which is with EMS. They want to the iron out TAC channels and will bring that before the Board when they do so they can ensure it rolls out smoothly. Chairman Powell wants to make sure that this doesn’t confuse everyone and have to rename channels after the templates are already complete and need to be changed after we have done the rebanding especially if there is going to be an additional cost after completion. Wayne said there are more discussions needed before they make a recommendation. NEW BUSINESS Chairman Powell asked if anyone had any news business. Ron Jordan wanted to know if SRO’s (School Resource Officers) are on one channel. Jerry Brewer stated that they have 400 MHz radios. They operate off of Sheriff’s Office Secondary and do have a SRO talkgroup as well. For the schools, they have another radio but primarily operate off of Sheriff’s Office Secondary. Ron was asking about this for agency response if there was a situation and how they could contact the SRO’s if needed. Jerry stated that the buildings are concrete and brick and sometimes they don’t have coverage with the radios but the supervisors are always monitoring so if you call the supervisors, they will get in touch with them. Jerry said the Sheriff’s Office will have to get a policy together and get supervisors and others trained as not everyone knows that they have access to Public Safety channels. For example, multiple agencies responding to New Hanover High, there needs to be policy in place for situations that may occur. Steve and Leslie were very concerned about the coverage in the schools with the radios. Jerry said the problem was with analog though digital hasn’t been tested in the schools. It will be a while before SRO’s go digital. For the most part they can get out but just certain areas within the school that aren’t able. If they could map the areas of the schools that have issues with the analog so SRO’s know if a situation occurs, that is where they do not try to transmit. This issue needs to be looked into and Jason and Mike said they would do tests if Jerry will get them a list of schools that they were having coverage problems. Warren said that some schools do not have great coverage with cell phones. Chairman Powell would like School Coverage added as an agenda item for future Board Meetings. Donnie Williams wanted to know about encryptions on channels and if all channels could be encrypted. Jason said that the radios are not limited on how many could be encrypted but the consoles are limited. Donnie said encryption may cause a problem with the media who are monitoring the channels but Warren said there is nothing that says you have to make your voice traffic accessible to the media if you chose to use encryption. The TAC channels are not recorded as of yet but it is in the process. All frequencies will be recorded. Chairman Powell asked if the agencies could be notified before it went into effect so as to educate their staff. Chairman Powell asked if a non-encrypted radio could talk to an encrypted. Jerry stated that the encrypted could hear you but the non-encrypted could not hear but the encryption could be turned off so that the two can communicate. OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS Public Safety Communications Steve stated that monthly stats for the agencies were emailed. If anyone had any questions or they had not received them, please let him know. We are proceeding with the VIPER changeover. Cribb, the electrical engineer, has come by and been informed we wanted this completed by June 1 and they stated they knew our contact with AT&T and would get up with them as far as their space requirements. Property Management says they expect to hear from Cribb this week. As soon as they can get the electrical panel in, it should not be a big deal. They are working on getting the HVAC squared away in the Center to provide some consistency with the airflow. The Mary Antley Telecommunicator of the Year Award had been presented at this past Monday’s Commissioners Meeting. Pam Stewart is the recipient of the award this year and has done a great job. She is also the telecommunicator who dispatched the 10-42 (end of service) for Officer Matthews. Next Thursday the administrative staff will hold interviews for a supervisor position that is open. Some outside agencies have been asked to join in the interviews. IT Leslie stated that Terry Baird is retiring and his team will be taken over by Mike Arkinson. Jan and Hope will work with PSCC. Helen Nelson has been reassigned to the library. Steve asked if the updated Ortho had been scheduled yet and Mike said if the budget was approved they will get it done for this next fiscal year. Brenda said this does not come out of County Funds; it is paid out of surcharge money. Chairman Powell asked if anyone had anything else. Chairman Powell adjourned the meeting at 10:38 a.m.