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May 25 2002 Board Meeting A regular scheduled meeting of the Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board was held on Thursday, May 23, 2002, in Room 501 of the County Administration Building, 320 Chestnut Street, Wilmington, North Carolina MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: Chairman Frank Blackley Andy Atkinson (Excused) Steve Smith Dan Summers (Excused) Major Todd Donnie Hall Everett Ward Bill Whisnant Ed Pigford Ed Woodard Bill Clontz Brian Wood Jan Kavanaugh Chairman Frank Blackley called the meeting to order at 9:12 a.m. The summary of the April 25, 2002 meeting was reviewed and approved as submitted. Ed Pigford moved to approve the April 25, 2002 minutes and Frank Blackley seconded the motion. OLD BUSINESS: Wrecker Services: • Ed Pigford stated that he met with the City of Wilmington to discuss the wrecker service issue. • The City of Wilmington has established a wrecker service list for abandoned vehicles that code enforcement officers will follow. • It will be the code enforcement officer’s responsibility to contact the wrecker companies on a need basis. • A code enforcement officer will be present when a ticket is issued for an abandoned vehicle and property owners will be notified before a vehicle is towed off private property. • The Public Safety Communications Center will no longer be responsible for dispatching the wrecker companies. • Steve Smith will contact the wrecker companies and arrange a meeting for them to express their opinions and concerns regarding how to improve and monitor the service on their own. • Guidelines need to be established between the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County before a meeting can be arranged with the wrecker companies. • Committee members suggested that the following options be considered when establishing guidelines for the wrecker companies: o Both the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County ordinances should be comparable with each other. o Charge the same fee for both entities. o Continue to use one wrecker rotation list 2 o Insist that the wrecker companies contract with an answering service to handle calls and provide the service with updated information so that correct information is dispatched. o Create a package deal for the answering service enticing them to contract with the wrecker companies, such as using a drop line. o Have a disable or elderly person answer the calls. o Have one number to call for services. o The wrecker companies would need to meet specific guidelines to qualify to be on the wrecker rotation list. o Charge the wrecker companies a set fee to discourage refusals. o If a call is in the City of Wilmington, a wrecker company in the City should be dispatched, the same would apply for the County; leave the decision of who to dispatch up to the answering service. o Let the person or party involved in the incident request the wrecker company of their choice. o Provide the answering service with some flexibility in how to handle the situation. o Provide the answering service with a call back policy. o All All complaints should go to the answering service not the Public Safety Communications Center. o Have the answering service create their own policy. Remodeling: Steve Smith reported on remodeling of the Public Safety Communications Center. Several revisions have been made to the original plan to effectively utilize the funds budgeted for the project. Staff is currently comparing the cost to update and utilize the EMS building on Second Street and the building that previously housed the Federal Point Fire Station for the relocation and needs of the Emergency Management Department. Reprogramming: • Frank Blackly gave an update on reprogramming. • Dan Summers gave an overview of the system and established talk groups for several of the agencies. • New Hanover County, Wrightsville Beach, City of Wilmington Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have been reprogrammed and updated. • Dan Summers is working with the agencies that have not been reprogrammed and updated. He is designing and creating templates for for them to use and expects to complete the project by the end of June. Budget: • Steve Smith reported on the recommended budget for the Public Safety Communications Center • The Board of County Commissioners approved the FY02-03 recommended budget on Monday, May 21, 2002. One item that was not recommended in the Public Safety Communications Center was the microwave link. 3 • Projections look good for the next budget year. NEW BUSINESS: • Steve Smith reported that he met with Chief Mark Dunford, Police Chief of Carolina Beach, on April 12, 2002, to discuss Carolina Beach dispatching from the Public Safety Communications Center. • Please refer to the memorandum dated May 28, 2002 that was distributed to Committee members for more detail on the meeting. • Traffic for Carolina and Kure Beaches will share one of the busier consoles during the day and then be transferred to a console that is not as busy in the evening hours. • The infrastructure at the southern end of the County needs to be fixed to accommodate the call volume increase on the system. • Before the dispatching may occur, a meeting between Carolina Beach and the Public Safety Communications Center needs to occur to ensure that the needs of both parties are met. • Currently Carolina Beach Fire is being dispatched by the Center. • Clocks inside the consoles and machines used to transmit the information all need to be synchronized to reflect the correct time. Information collected needs to be correct in the event that it will appear in a court case or legal issue. Jan Kavanaugh will check on the problem. • It was stated that when a telecommunicator receives an incoming call and the call is entered into the CAD system there is a delay causing the time to not be correct. Bill Clontz asked that he be given some examples so that the problem can be corrected. Shift Supervisor Issues: Steve Smith reported on the Supervisor’s meeting that was held on Tuesday, May 14, 2002. Please refer to the memorandum dated May 15, 2002 that was distributed to Committee members for more details on the meeting. • The purpose of the meeting was to establish a policy regarding various issues pertaining to all shifts and resolve any differences that were occurring. Motorola Contract Information: Steve Smith distributed to Committee members and reported on the communications system-financing proposal cost sheet from Motorola. Please refer to the sheet for detailed information on the proposal. Information Technology Subcommittee Report: Bill Clontz reported on the Information Technology subcommittee that met on May 8, 2002. Please refer to the information that was distributed and discussed at the meeting. Public Safety Communications Center Requests for Information: Steve Smith submitted to Committee members a handout describing what information the public is entitled to receive regarding 911 emergency telephone calls. Please refer to the information that was distributed for detail. 4 The next scheduled meeting will be held on Thursday, June 28, 2002, at 9:00 a.m. in Room 501 of the County Administration Building, 320 Chestnut Street, Wilmington, North Carolina. Major Todd made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ed Pigford seconded the motion. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:40 a.m. There were not enough people in attendance to have a quorum.