October 24, 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:
October 24, 2019
Date:
November 26, 2019
A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday October 24, 2019 at 10
am in the EOC, 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Matt Davis Tim Burgess
Jerry Brewer
Cindy Hewett
Tim Corbett
Steven
Still
Participants
Glen Rogers, WBFD 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 10:10 am.
There was not a quorum. 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.
OLD BUSINESS:
Freedom and Central Square
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any outstanding issues with Central Square and Freedom; Cindy Hewett asked if Gia Long would update the
board. Gia stated they have no new issues; lots of requests had been handled. There will be testing done on Central Square in November. IT is waiting on confirmation for the date from
Central Square for upgrade.
Gia also mentioned Optima; IT had weekly updates and since the changes that have occurred at Central Square it has been three weeks since IT has heard from
them.
Frank Blackley asked if there could be a meeting set up with Central Square. Cindy Hewett stated she would check.
Chairman Rogers asked if anyone had any other issues or questions
about Central Square or Optima; there were none.
NEW BUSINESS
By-Laws
Chairman Rogers stated the items for discussion on the by-laws. Deleting the City Manager office, UNC-W since
they will be exiting and also the County Managers office since there were several members with the County that have a vested interest in this process.
Chairman Rogers also discussed
adding Wrightsville Beach Fire and removing Town of Wrightsville Beach; replacing Town of Carolina Beach with Carolina Beach Fire and Carolina Beach Police; replacing Town of Kure Beach
with Kure Beach Fire and Kure Beach Police; also adding the 911 Director as a voting member. These changes would ensure that each agency that 911 dispatches for would be represented.
Chairman
Rogers stated that the By-laws also needs to be updated as to whether it is a Policy Board or an Advisory Board.
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any other items and changes to consider
for the Policy Board to review. No one had any other items.
OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS
9-1-1 Center
Chairman Rogers asked Hope Lindsey to update the board on 911. Hope introduced
the new 911 Public Safety Data Analyst, John Heysel. John just started a couple of days ago. He comes to New Hanover County with a background in law enforcement and a previous Central
Square employee.
Chairman Rogers asked about an issue the other day; was it a gas leak at Carolina Beach. Hope stated she would check into it.
Jerry Brewer asked if the airport was on the consoles.
Karen Benton stated yes, on the Sheriff’s console but there is not a specific group just for the airport. Jerry wanted to let everyone know the airport has about 50 radios; nine used
for law, five or six for fire and the rest are civilians.
Matt Davis asked what template are they using, do they have access to all channels. Jerry stated he would check. November
1 the Sheriff’s Office is taking over law at the airport. Steven Still stated they could divide templates so the civilians have limited access.
Matt Davis asked if the 911 Center
was utilizing text to 911. Hope stated yes we are.
Hope stated the 911 Center is fully staffed; there will be a new class sometime around mid-January.
Hope also let the Board know
that the latest EMD/EFD/EPD had been upgraded in September. There was also a Motorola upgrade done at the beginning of October and there is some fine tuning being done right now.
Steven
Still stated there are actually 7,000 users and there are currently 8,310 listed. Each agency should contact Motorola to get their current lists to update and forward to Steven.
Hope
stated that 911 staff is now preparing for budget; quotes getting updated for Locution and Purvis to see if funding is available.
Hope is also looking at ASAP to PSAP; alarms push
to dispatch and would decrease times.
Hope and the Quality Assurance team made a visit to Raleigh Wake 911 to discuss the backup plan during emergencies; there will be testing done
to ensure process is fluid.
Hope stated there was a discussion with the NC 911 Board about ESINet. It may be available to New Hanover County by the end of 2020.
Hope is also looking
at Rapid SOS; this is geo referencing for calls. There will be testing and training before it is implemented. This is a feature that can locate more specific locations if utilized;
if an address layer is set up in GIS it will give the exact room in a hospital. Currently, this function is not available.
Hope also stated that the 911 Center will be utilizing
Say Something; this is a result of the Sandy Hook school shooting. There will be testing and a go live date for November 1, 2019.
Chairman Rogers asked if the repairs were complete from Florence. Steven Still stated yes they were. They were in a much better position after Dorian hit due to the issues that were
fixed from Florence.
Steven did state that they have the generator to repair or replace which is being done now.
Steven stated the County is looking at an RFP for a new complex; after
Florence and the damage that we encountered, they most likely will be doing an RFP for a Cat 5 building. This process and build will probably take place in the next two to three years.
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any other items for 911; no one had any.
IT
Chairman Rogers asked Cindy Hewett to update everyone on IT. Cindy stated that IT has completed
the PROQA updates.
Cindy also said that IT was working on the WEB EOC rebuild; there is a way to go with this though. IT is also working on the building safety Informacast. There
are a couple of tests scheduled; not completed yet.
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any questions for IT; there were none.
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any other items for
discussion. Steven stated that there is a Motorola upgrade required for TDMA 2020 and there is a go live date of 2025; Steven will share the info. In 2023 XTS or XTL will not be allowed
on the system and will send this information to Lynn to send out to the Board.
Chairman Rogers asked if there were any other items; no one had any.
Meeting adjourned 10:36