July 15 Board Meeting
/
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 Policy Board Members
From:
Hope Downs, Director
Subject:
July 15, 2021
Date:
July
16, 2021
A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday July 15, 2021 at 10:00 am at 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.
MEMBERS
PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Steve Mason Tim Burgess
Steven Still
Sam Profitt
Jason Bishop
Gia Long
Matt Davis
Charles Blankenship
Participants
Hope Downs, NHC 911 Jennifer
Smith, NHC Fire
Todd Richardson, NHC IT Dustin Stream, ILM
Mike Gomes, City of Wilm Billy Howard, NHRMC EMS
Carla Bradshaw, City of Wilm Mike Cavaluzzi, Motorola
The meeting
was called to order at 10:00 am.
Chairman Mason asked if everyone had a chance to review the summary from February 25, 2021 meeting and asked if there were any questions, comments,
or corrections. No one had any. Chairman Mason asked if there was a motion to approve; Steven Still made a motion; Matt Davis seconded. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS:
By-Laws
Chairman Mason asked if Hope Downs had the proposed changes to the By-Laws ready. Hope shared the changes and if there were any questions with the proposed changes
(see attachment item #1).
It was discussed what makes a quorum; if we have all agencies with UNC-W that is 16; without UNC-W it is 15. Roger’s Rules will be consulted before voting
on the By-Laws.
Charles Blankenship asked if it was possible to do the voting electronically. The rules will be consulted for this as well.
This is tabled for voting until these items
are reviewed.
Chairman Mason asked if there were any questions; there were none.
NEW BUSINESS
Radios
Chairman Mason asked Zak Whicker to update everyone on the radios and the new
template. Zak provided the members with the spreadsheet and discussed the banks and what is required by February 2022. (see attached item #2) Please inform Zak if there are any changes
or items of concern.
The question was raised about the cost of the updates to radios. That would be a question that Motorola would have to answer for the agency making the changes.
There
was a question about possibly making a third column after primary and secondary for each agency to put their other channels. Zak said that it was possible; these requests need to be
sent to his attention to complete the Common Template.
The voting is tabled until the issues and comments are completed.
Chairman Mason asked if there were items to add for new business;
no one had any.
OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS
9-1-1 Center
Chairman Mason asked Hope Downs to update everyone on the 911 Center. Hope stated there are 7 employees in training now. The
last class went on the floor. The last class is participating in a pilot program that are staggered 9 hour shifts with a 1-hour lunch break. They are call takers only; this should
take some of the burden off trained telecommunicators and allow for CTO’s to continue the
previous staff added to the center. Hope had examined the volume of calls and found where the call takers would provide the most assistance for the high-volume times of the day.
Hope
also stated she has kept an eye on the House Bill in the state for immunity for telecommunicators. This morning it was just rejected. Hope will update everyone if there are changes.
The
county approved the budget which includes ASAP to PSAP. This deals with alarms and will move calls over to CAD straight from the alarm company. Some companies will still be calling
but this will most likely decrease the volume but will not remove all the call volume.
We will be implementing Power DMS thanks to Fire; we will be utilizing this for our policies,
procedures, and training.
New Hanover County also approved a Network Administrator; they will be working on ESInet issues, recorder issues and anything for day-to-day maintenance. Radios
will be priority, but overall support person is not going to be a technician; this will be a higher-level staff member.
Hope was pleased with tests with Raleigh-Wake; as a backup for
them. The testing took place Wednesday night, and it was successful. Next is an ESInet test, routing calls to a specific person in an answering point.
Hope stated there are three
positions open now: a CTO, an Assistant Supervisor, and a Quality Assurance Specialist.
Chairman Mason asked if anyone had any other items or questions; no one had any.
IT
Chairman
Mason asked Todd Richardson for an update on IT. Todd stated that there have been a couple of staffing changes in IT; Helen Nelson is now Tech Support Supervisor, Mark Mitchell is Ops
Team Supervisor, and Todd has moved to the Analyst Team.
There has been an announcement made that Leslie Chaney will be retiring on 10/1/21.
Mike Arkinson has completed the WEBEOC.
Purvis
is in testing stage; it is too early to give a go live date right now.
Chairman Mason asked if there were any other items; there were none.
Chairman Mason made a motion to adjourn,
Steven Still seconded.
Meeting adjourned 11:30