February 28 2019 Board Meeting
/
Department Of Emergency Management
and 911 Communications
230 Government Center Drive, Suite 115
Wilmington, North Carolina 28403
Telephone (910) 798-6920
Fax (910) 798-6925
sstill@nhcgov.com
Steven Still
Director
Memorandum
To:
Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board Members
From:
Steven
Still, Director
Subject:
February 28, 2019
Date:
March 18, 2019
A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday February 28, 2019 at Wrightsville
Beach Fire, 3 Bob Sawyer Dr, Wrightsville Beach, NC
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Frank Blackley Tim Burgess
Steven Still Cynthia Deacon
Jerry Brewer Glen Rogers
Joe
Miljenovic
Cindy Hewett
Jason Bishop
Guests
Kevin Hargrove, WPD David Oyler, WPD
Rodney Dawson, WPD Gia Long, NHC IT
Tomashia Robinson, NHC IT Jennifer Price, NHC
IT
Chris Graham, WFD Mike Gomes, City of Wilm IT
Jeremy Owens, WBFD Jessica Nester, NHCFS
Frank Meyer, NHCFS Meredith Mulford, WFD
Steve Mason, WFD Amy Dover, WPD
Mike
Cavaluzzi, Wireless
The meeting was called to order at 10:08 am.
Chairman Blackley asked if everyone had a chance to review the minutes from the January 31, 2019 meeting any questions, comments, changes or corrections. No one had any.
Chairman Blackley
asked if there was a motion to approve the minutes; Jerry Brewer made a motion and Steven Still seconded. All in favor; none opposed. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS:
Southside Communications
Chairman
Blackley asked Steven Still about the Southside Communications equipment that was under repair in January. Steven stated there was a lot of gear replaced. The testing so far showed
significant improvements from pre-replacement testing to current. If there are any further issues, please utilize the Google form distributed by email. Please be specific about where
you were, what you were using; whether portable or mobile and what issue you encountered.
Joe Miljenovic asked about the intermittent outages. Steven said they were not planned. The
outages were from the move going from the primary to the backup and connecting equipment back up.
Chairman Blackley asked about the fuel issues that occurred during Hurricane Florence.
Steven stated that the fuel was an issue and increasing the 24 hour run time limitations of equipment running a full load with the current generators and are in the process of determining
the best course of action for future events.
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any questions for Steven about the Communications system repairs; there were none.
Freedom and
Central Square
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any updates on Central Square. Gia Long stated one county fire engine is going to be tested with all the updates for testing.
Feedback has been good so far. Some settings may have to be adjusted or updated.
Jennifer Price stressed that it has been installed on one MDT so that it will not impact all agencies
during testing; testing is ongoing for the next month.
There have been several tickets with Central Square resolved and they are down to one or two more issues and IT is working with
them to get issues resolved.
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any more questions about Freedom and Central Square; there were none.
Chairman Blackley asked if there was any
other old business for discussion; no one had any.
NEW BUSINESS
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any items for new business. Steve Mason brought up the closure of Stations 5 and 6. There will be a new combined to make a more
strategic location Station 5, located on Shipyard at a later date; all equipment from Stations 5 and 6 will be moved to the new Station 5. City Fire has had to redraw all the response
zones and run orders and this will be coming out soon.
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any questions for Steve Mason; no one had any.
Chairman Blackley stated there has been
a significant change in the Fire Prevention Code. The Fire code now requires radio communication coverage in new buildings as of January 1, 2019. This is for all buildings permitted
after this date; it does not grandfather in buildings permitted before January 1, 2019.
Chairman Blackley asked about the Hurricane Florence report released and a new 911 Director
was forthcoming. Steven stated the report released showed that there was a clear need for a separate director for 911. During an event such as Florence, someone needs to be available
for both departments and it seems to be an impossibility that the same person runs both departments; some staff members felt that there was division amongst staff and not providing the
best service since Steven was pulled in so many different directions.
Emergency Management and 911 were combined back in 2009 during budget cuts and it may be time to separate them.
The decision to hire a separate 911 Director will go before the County Commissioners in March to go back to two separate departments.
Chairman Blackley asked if anyone had any more
questions for Steven Still; no one had any.
OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS
9-1-1 Center
Chairman Blackley asked Steven Still if he could update the Board on 911. Steven stated there were
five more new hires for 911. The trainees are in class and will most likely hit the floor at the end of March.
Steven also informed the Board with the staff moved to the backup center,
there will be an electrical engineer brought in to evaluate the EOC and 911 Center. The analysis should be sometime in April. Steven is hoping to build for resiliency and not convenience.
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any questions for Steven; no one had any.
IT
Chairman Blackley asked for an update for IT. Cindy stated they are moving forward with a multifactor authentication March 6, 2019.
Cindy also stated that IT was working to upgrade
the Public Safety server for redundancy.
Cindy asked Gia if she had anything to add; Gia stated they were upgrading CAD to 18.5 for training, RMS, JMS and mobiles this week.
IT will
also be assisting with the 911 audit from the state that will be coming somewhere at the end of March.
Chairman Blackley asked if there were any questions for IT. No one had any.
Chairman
Blackley asked if there were any other questions or comments. No one had any.
Meeting adjourned at 11:04 a.m.