November 17 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:
November 17,
2021
Date:
December 6, 2021
A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday November 17, 2021 at 1:00 pm at 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington,
North Carolina.
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Steve Mason
Steven Still
Sam Profitt
Jason Bishop
Gia Long
Matt Davis
Charles Blankenship
Jerry Brewer
Mat Ingram
Alan Griffin
Partici
pants
Hope Downs, NHC 911 Karen Benton, NHC 911
Chris Fincher-Smith, NHC 911 Roscoe Harris, NHC 911
John Heysel, NHC 911 Cortnie McLaurin, NHC 911
Anna McRay, NHC EM Zak Whicker,
NHC 911
Jessica Loeper, NHC Communications Natosha Tew, Wilmington Fire
Mike Gomes, Wilmington IT Mike Cavaluzzi, MCA
The meeting was called to order at 1:03 pm.
Chairman Mason asked if everyone had a chance to review the summary from July 15, 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; Matt Davis made a motion; Sam Profitt seconded. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS:
By-Laws
Chairman
Mason asked if Hope Downs had any updates for the proposed changes to the By-Laws. Hope stated they were ready to go to the County Attorney’s office; with the changes for a quorum of
50% of voting members and updating the list of members.
Chairman Mason asked if there were any questions; there were none.
Radios
Chairman Mason asked if everyone voted via email
on the NHC Common Template; email votes were turned in to Chairman.
Jerry Brewer did ask if the Sheriff’s Office viper channels would be omitted from the template. Zak Whicker stated
that is possible.
Members asked the cost associated with this; Mike Cavaluzzi was on Teams and stated each agency should reach out to MCA to get the current prices on these. If agencies
had a large number of radios it may be beneficial to get an hourly rate of $150 rather than a per radio cost of $39 which is the state contract price. The advantage of the hourly rate
is they can update 15 to 20 radios an hour which is cost effective vs. the $39 per radio. Mike also stated the contract prices for templates and radio updates is $75 per radio as long
as the template is finalized when updating.
Zak asked how long would this take to implement. Matt Davis asked if there was a deadline. Zak stated February 2022 is the deadline and
be completed no later that August 1, 2022; the non-complying radios would go offline.
Charles Blankenship stated that EMS budget was on the calendar year and this might be an issue.
John Heysel asked who the primary contact would be for the project. Zak said he had no problem acting as project manager and Chairman Mason said he would assist.
Alan Griffin asked
if Zak could send his points so that he may present it to his agency. Zak confirmed he would send it.
Chairman Mason asked if there were any questions; no one had any.
NEW BUSINESS
Chairman Mason asked if there were items to add for new business; no one had any.
OTHER ITEMS AND REPORTS
IT
Chairm
an Mason asked Gia Long if there were any updates from IT. Gia stated Purvis was done and would like some feedback. Matt Davis stated not all units are getting notified.
Karen Benton
stated that there was one console that was not sending out notifications but believes the issue has been resolved. John stated it does not occur regularly so it is not easy to resolve
since it is sporadic and may not be just the one console.
It was asked if the Purvis data for a one month period be pulled for the next DRC meeting; Karen stated she could do that for
the November period for a December DRC meeting.
Gia also informed the board that IT was working on ASAP to PSAP. Right now IT is working the assessments for the vendor.
IT is also
working on replacing Firehouse as well as seeking an efficient solution for the GIS maps.
John asked if this was the building maps; Gia stated it was the aerial only which is provided
by the state.
Chairman Mason asked if anyone had any other items or questions; no one had any.
9-1-1 Center
Chairman Mason asked Hope Downs to update everyone on the 911 Center.
Hope stated there has been a change in ME timestamps to body recovery. There had been an extended delay of response anywhere from 3 to 6 hours wait time for EMS and LEO waiting for
a response. This change will be tracked for the next 60 days to see if there is any improvement.
Hope informed the board that there is a Public Safety Network Administrator starting
with New Hanover County on November 30, 2021.
Hope stated that ESInet was started in September of 2020. This is the state hosted phone system. The project has just now been signed
off on as there were abandoned call issues that had to be resolved.
New Hanover County is working on a dashboard for the public to access information; call answer speeds will be the start of the information.
911 will tentatively move to the new complex
September 2022. We are working with Federal Engineering for the move of the tower and equipment.
911 is looking at a new recorder at the main center for January 2022.
Hope introduced
the new Quality Assurance Specialist Chris Fincher-Smith. There has been a new position added to the Quality Assurance team as well as reclassifying the assistants; there are now 8
supervisors, two for each squad.
Hope is optimistic the center will be fully staffed by December 2021.
Chairman Mason asked if anyone had any other items or questions. Sam asked if
the radio person was available to assist agencies. Hope stated they may be able to assist but may not be able to program all agencies radios.
Chairman Mason asked if there were any
other items; there were none.
Chairman Mason asked if there was a motion to adjourn, Matt Davis made a motion, Sam Profitt seconded.
Meeting adjourned 2:42 pm