HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 8 2025
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Department Of 911 Communications
230 Government Center Drive, Suite 185
Wilmington, North Carolina 28403
Telephone (910) 798-6915
Fax (910) 798-6925
hdowns@nhcgov.com
Hope Downs
Director
Memorandum
To:
Public Safety Communications Center Steering Committee
From:
Hope Downs, Director
Subject:
July 8, 2025
Date:
February 12, 2026
A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Tuesday July 8, 2025 at 10:00 am at 230 Government Center Drive, EOC, Wilmington, North Carolina.
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Alanna Williams, WPD Alan Griffin, CBFD
Sam Proffitt, WBFD Vic Ward, CBPD
Steve Mason, WFD Michael Bowden, KBPD
Steven Still, NHC EM Edmund Kennedy, KBFD
Hope Downs, NHC 911 Jerry Brewer, NHSO
Jennifer Smith, NHCFR
Jordan Smith, WBPD
Participants
Sunny Hwang, NHC IT Karen Benton, NHC 911
Kevin Baldwin, NHC 911 Gia Long, NHC IT
Kim Johnston, NHC IT Todd Richardson, NHC IT
Joseph Knox, Motorola Mike Cavaluzzi, Motorola
John Heysel, NHC IT Levi Hunt, NHC IT
Ben Calhoun, Novant Christina Duchene, NHC 911
Lisa Wurtzbacher, NHC Co Mangers Office Cortnie Herring, NHC 911
Mike Gomes, City of Wilm IT Mary Mack, NHC Care Team
The meeting was called to order at 10:04 am.
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if there was a motion to approve January 29, 2025 Meeting Notes; Steve Mason made a motion; Steven Still seconded.
ELECTIONS
Steve Mason asked if there were any nominations for Chair and Vice Chair.
Nomination for Chair was Sam Proffitt by Steve Mason, Steven Still seconded.
Nominations for Vice Chair was Steve Mason by Steven Still, Jennifer Smith seconded.
Nominations for Vice Chair were made and voted on; this needs to be readdressed at the next meeting; Chair and Vice chair must be from different disciplines; now that Chair is from Fire,
Vice Chair must be from EMS or Law
OLD BUSINESS
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if there were any items for Old Business; no one had anything.
NEW BUSINESS
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if anyone had items for New Business.
Steve Mason asked if there were any changes with the 911 Budget with the cutbacks the county had implemented.
Hope Downs stated that the centers OT is still being managed; critical items are still in the budget just a couple of requests that had to be denied.
Steve Mason asked if there were any issues that the Steering Committee could support the 911 Center with New Hanover County staff making the budget changes. Hope stated that the 911
Center is still operating as it should and the cuts did not impact the Center; the overfills for hiring has still been allowed so there will not be an impact to the quality of services
from 911.
OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS
9-1-1 Center
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if Hope Downs would update the Committee with 911 Center items.
Hope Downs stated that their training academy was going to be changed a little; Mini dispatch academies were going to be implemented with the latest class being the first to pilot it
on law. The training team will then assess and determine if adjustments need to be made prior to adding on fire and EMS.
Hope also informed the Committee that 911 surcharge funding has been approved to offset the increase in operational and training costs.
Hope will be working on a reconsideration of funds from the 911 surcharge fund in addition to a grant for the CAD replacement project.
Hope discussed that the county was in the due diligence phase of the public safety system (CAD, RMS, JMS) replacement project; other 911 centers have been visited along with IT staff.
There has been a quote for console replacement; staff are currently working on the purchase order. There will hopefully be a weekend delivery to lessen the impact on the parking situation.
Hope informed the Committee that there were two NACO awards; one for the bi-lingual staff and one for the Care Team.
Hope passed out the 911 Centers KPI’s for 2024 through 2028 and discussed the targets and information provided (attached). The goal is to get 911 accredited.
Hope asked if there were any questions; there were none.
Care Team
Mary Mack with the Care Team distributed the information about the calls and stats (attached).
Mary also stated they had an open position which has been frozen for the upcoming budget. There are currently four full-time Care Team members.
The Care Team has delivered items to the Salvation Army shelter for distribution to those in need.
The participation in calls is increasing; staff are gearing up for face-to-face assistance.
The Care Team would like to be contacted if there is assistance or needs that they could supply. There are some resources available to share.
Steve Mason asked how they got referrals. Mary stated right now they were mainly getting 911 referrals.
Mary asked if there were any other questions; there were none.
IT
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if there were any updates from IT. Sunny Hwang discussed they just got done with their budget process.
IT staff are doing their due diligence for the CAD replacement. There have been site visits and viewing the functions of the CAD they are considering.
At the end of July, IT will begin working on their RFP and hopefully have the kick-off of the project in September or October. This CAD replacement will take approximately 18 months
to implement.
Sunny asked if Kevin Baldwin had anything to add; Kevin stated that ESChat will be set up soon.
Gia Long stated that their team is working on a system audit; there are people in there that are no longer employed by New Hanover County.
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if there were any more questions; no one had any.
Vice Chairman Proffitt asked if there were any other items; there were none.
Meeting adjourned 11:07 am