December 5, 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
hlindsey@nhcgov.com
Hope Lindsey
Director
Memorandum
To:
Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board Members
From:
Hope
Lindsey, Director
Subject:
December 5, 2019
Date:
A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday December 5, 2019 at 10 am in the NHC EOC,
230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Matt Davis Tim Burgess
Jerry Brewer
Cindy Hewett
Tim Corbett
Steven Still
Glen
Rogers
Participants
Hope Lindsey, NHC 911 Debora Cottle, NHC 911
John Heysel, NHC 911 Karen Benton, NHC 911
Matt Langley, NHC 911 Gia Long, NHC IT
Zak Whicker, NHC
EM Chris Graham, WFD
Mike Gomes, WFD
The meeting was called to order at 10:06 am.
Chairman Rogers asked if everyone had a chance to review the summary from August 22, 2019
and asked if there were any questions, comments or corrections. No one had any. All in favor for approving the minutes; none opposed. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS:
Freedom and Central Square
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any outstanding issues with Central Square and Freedom; Gia Long stated that a ticket had been opened
regarding MDT sync issues. The other Central Square issues were being resolved with the latest version update that was done this week. Chris Graham will follow up to see if there are
any issues remaining, and NHC IT will be doing additional testing.
Gia stated that CAD is on Version 19.3. IT is slated to do two upgrades a year to try to do the most critical fixes.
Chairman Rogers asked if anyone had any other issues or comments about Central Square; there were none.
By-Laws
Chairman Rogers provided a review of this discussion from the previous
meeting outlining the membership evolution of this board from Article IV, page 3. In 2007, it was representative of 13 entities that were members of the board.
Chairman Rogers made
a motion to amend the membership of the Bylaws Article 4 to reflect the changes of number 8 in the membership Carolina Beach Fire Department and Carolina Beach Police Department, number
9 to Kure Beach Fire Department and Kure Beach Police Department, and number 10 to Wrightsville Beach Fire Department and Wrightsville Beach Police Department. Rogers clarified that
the intent is not to remove the city management from these, but to add the departments to the membership. Chief Davis second, but shared the concern of having a quorum.
Director Steven
Still requested an amendment to the motion, and discussed the split of Emergency Management and 911, noting EM is responsible for the radio system and 911 is a primary end user of the
system. Director Still recommended adding the 911 director as another member. Discussion was held regarding the pros and cons of 911 being a voting member or ex-officio member. Discussion
continued to include what the purpose of the PSCC board is – policy and guidance for 911 services, radio services, or both. It was noted that further discussion should be had regarding
what the intent of the board is and then the makeup of the board. Any changes to the bylaws or board would have to be presented to the NHC Commissioners. When making changes to the bylaws,
an amendment could be made allowing the PSCC board at-will to make future changes.
Director Still made a motion made to amend the membership for the inclusions of the six entities
previously mentioned between Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Wrightsville Beach, but also the addition of the 911 director as a member of the PSCC board. Chairman Rogers opened it up
for discussion. There was discussion of any conflict of interests the 911 director should recuse herself. Chief Mason recommended eliminating City and County Administration requirement
to
participate in the board since they have representatives from public safety for both governing bodies. Discussions will be had with City and County Administration prior to voting on
it. Another question posed was if IT should be a voting member.
Chairman Rogers made a motion to amend the Article IV of the membership of the bylaws of the New Hanover Public Safety
Communications Center policy board to include Town of Carolina Beach Fire, Carolina Beach Police, Town of Kure Beach Fire, Town of Kure Beach Police, Town of Wrightsville Beach Fire,
Wrightsville Beach Police, and the Public Safety Communications Director into the membership list. All in favor; Motion passed.
Director Still made a motion for an inclusion of Section
7 under Article IV that the PSCC board has the ability to adjust or change membership as needed without having to take it before the county commissioners. Seconded by Chairman Rogers.
No further discussion. All in favor; Motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS
Emergency Responder Coverage
Director Still stated that they still had some issues with emergency responder coverage.
The 2015 international code that was adopted by North Carolina in 2018 for Section 510 of the fire code that pertains to in-building radio coverage. As of January 1, any new construction
has to follow a code as it pertains to being able to transmit and receive inside of a building. With the anticipation of push back from builders, in the last few months, a unified document
was created for the city, county, and beach communities for contractors to outline the requirements and resources regarding the code. Director Still stated that in his opinion, we should
not nor should we allow for alternate approaches to go around the state code. The code was built for the safety of responders going into the building and for the individuals who choose
to reside or work within these facilities. This is a request that we have a unified voice. There was a recommendation of having a letter come out from the PSCC board for our elected
officials.
Civilian Radio Access at Airport
The Sheriff’s office took over law enforcement at the airport. The airport has 16 civilian staff have all access to the radio templates
for law enforcement including encrypted channels on both portables and mobiles. The SO is not comfortable with civilians having access to those. Mike Cavalluzzi stated this was a part
of the upgrade project to reprogram and clear those channels out. Director Still stated that anytime we have an entity that wants to have access to channels to bring it to him or the
board for approval. They would not approve for civilians to have access to encrypted channels.
OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS
9-1-1 Center
Director Lindsey provided an overview of the
budget being proposed to the county. Chief Davis mentioned that Locution/Purvis was in the budget proposal. Lindsey stated that the 911 surcharges will cover the cost on the dispatch
side. Anything
beyond that could potentially be eligible for grants; however, she had been informed that grant process was changing and that they would be giving first priority to regional approaches
making us less likely to receive it.
Chief Davis stated that is only concern looking at the budget was if there was adequate training for EMD, EPD, and EFD. Director Lindsey stated
that the 911 center was in the process of revamping their training program with more focus on each discipline. She noted that the center received an updated list of approved training
that is surcharge eligible and that many courses are now being included that weren’t before. A part of the expansion of the quality assurance/control program would include surveys from
both our citizens and responders.
Director Lindsey stated that there were some projects that would be presented to the ITGC for their approval that were not listed in the budget proposal
presented. They included Purvis, ASAP to PSAP (alarm company sends activations directly to CAD), scheduling software, and tablets to replace the call guided flip charts for EMD, EPD,
and EFD.
Chairman Rogers asked if all were in favor of approving the budget as presented. All in favor; Motion passed.
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any other new business.
Director Still stated that we were backup and running. The generator was repaired, and the alternator was replaced. Everything was back on UPS and transfer switches. There was a meeting
scheduled to discuss a new government building to include an EOC and 911 center.
Director Lindsey stated that the new hire training class has been pushed back till March due to not
having enough open positions to justify having a class. The center has also participated in a telework pilot with the quality assurance team working from home.
Director Still stated
that there was a meeting scheduled for the following week with the Coast Guard Federal Affairs to discuss a new tower on the south end of the county.
IT
Cindy Hewett provided an update
on IT stating they were on track with their projects. The Central Square upgrade went well, and they are working with EM on WebEOC. They are waiting on a quote for the generators. They
are working on activating informacast throughout the county. They are moving into the Sheriff’s Department on the Windows 10 deployment this month.
Next meeting scheduled for February
27, 2020 starting at 9:30 am at the new city fire training facility.
Meeting adjourned 11:31