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05 22 2008 Board Meeting NEW HANOVER COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER 230 Government Center Dr, Suite 185 Wilmington, NC 28403 Phone: (910) 798-6922 Fax: (910) 798-6925 E-mail: bhewlett@nhcgov.com Brenda Hewlett Acting Director Memorandum To: Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board Members From: Brenda Hewlett, Acting Director Subject: May 22, 2008 Board Summary Date: May 23, 2008 A Public Safety Communications Center Policy Board meeting was held on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 10:00 AM in the Emergency Operating Center, 220 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina. MEMBERS PRESENT: Sterling Powell Donnie Hall, Excused MEMBERS ABSENT: Brenda Hewlett Leslie Stanfield, Excused Michael Core Dennis Cooper, Excused Jan Kavanaugh Sharon Kane, Excused Andre’ Mallette Ron Jordan, Excused Tom Eason Robert Matheson, Excused Jerry Brewer Genia Boswell William Younginer Larry Bergman Warren Lee GUESTS:Debora Cottle, NHC Public Safety Communications Center Tom Hood, Wireless Communications/Motorola Chairman Powell called the meeting to order at 10:12 A.M. Chairman Powell asked if everyone had reviewed the April 24, 2008 minutes and if anyone had any questions, comments or changes. Chairman Powell stated that the third paragraph on page 2 was incorrect. TAC II was not hard patched on Phase 2 but Med TAC I & II were hard patched. Chairman Powell asked if there was a motion to approve the minutes with this correction, Larry Bergman made a motion and Andre’ Mallette seconded. Motion approved. Old Business: Warren informed everyone that the rebanding as of last week they reached a settlement with Sprint/Nextel for the Frequency Reconfiguration Agreement which includes the swap out of the radios that cannot be re-tuned and the retuning of those that can be re-tuned. We are waiting on the final documentation, there were some issues between Motorola and Sprint/Nextel over the number of hours and the pricing per hour and they have gotten that worked out. Hopefully, we will have it within the next couple of weeks and have a ship date on the replacement radios. Warren wanted to remind everyone that part of the replacement agreement is a one for one exchange, one will have to be given up in order to get a new one but the accessories for the one turned in must also be returned. Warren asked if Chairman Powell had gotten a resolution on his question on patching. Chairman Powell said that was an issue that was to be discussed by Brenda. Chairman Powell turned to Brenda in regards to the patching discussion. Brenda had planned on a power point on patching but if they would prefer to view the patching in the Center, they would do a walk through on how it is done. Michael Core stated they were having trouble with the hard patches that were in place for them. Some of the analog and digital could not hear each other; the analog and digital could talk to Central but not each other. Jason told them that it may be a problem with the portable radios. Tom Hood interjected that any agency that needed assistance regardless of the time this occurs, please call them out, as this is not a cost to the agency to request their assistance. It may be a combination of hardware, software or user errors. They (Wireless) will respond and try to duplicate the problem when it occurs and get it resolved as to whether it is any of the above or a program issue. Warren asked if if it was possible for Jerry Brewer to take a radio by (Wireless) today to see if they could work on this problem. Chairman Powell stated that there were several agencies here now, after the meeting they could see if there was interoperability with the units today. Tom Hood asked if the issues that Wrightsville Beach had with the radios were worked out and Michael Core stated that they were, there was still an occasional “thud” but the digitals were great. Warren asked Jerry if Jason had read the radios to see if there was a programming discrepancy and Jerry said that Jason had it but he thought that he was going off of clones from Coastal. Jason has seen those but until they could duplicate the problem they couldn’t tell what the problem was. Jerry would get in touch with Jason this afternoon and bring a couple of radios and see where to go from there to work this out. Chairman Powell wanted to know if they were to call and ask to be set up on soft patch that the telecommunicators would perform it at that moment and Brenda stated yes, all the telecommunicators were instructed on how to do it each time they were called by the agencies. The agency just needs to ask for the patch. Chairman Powell stated that Chief Smith intended to use this during exercises and wanted to ensure it was ready to use which Brenda told him it was. Warren suggested practicing using this so that it becomes easier with use and Brenda said that it would be practical to do this every time so that everyone gets used to the process. Chairman Powell asked if there was anything else under Old Business. New Business: Public Safety Communications Center: Chairman Chairman Powell stated that one of the responsibilities of the PSCC Board was to review the Budget for the Public Safety Communications Department. If everyone would take a copy of the Budget and review it, any questions that might come up could be discussed at the next Board meeting. Brenda informed everyone the Center is in pretty good shape even with the budget cuts that were requested. The overtime money is gone, so overtime has been cut but overall the budget still looks good for this year. Our department budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year looks good. Warren asked if the on call and temporary salaries requested would carry through for the year and Brenda believed they would. Brenda stated that we were fully staffed with the exception of one person and in the last ten days, three people quit. One was stress related and the doctor recommended she get out of it, one was not expecting the volume and that the calls were worse than what was expected and the third left move to a different career. Chairman Powell made a motion to review the budget for discussion at the next board meeting and Larry Bergman seconded. Larry Bergman inquired if there was another mechanism to deliver information discussed at these meetings. Chairman Powell stated that each agency should disseminate this information to their departments. Chairman Powell stated anyone who would like a copy of the recommended budget to get in touch with Lynn and she would forward them a copy. Brenda Hewlett distributed the monthly agency reports to Committee members via email. Tom Hood stated that he might have a video available on patching and that he would get it to Chairman Powell. Warren said there were two people here that were installing the redundant fiber “mucks”. We have two paths of fiber between the building and tower and only had equipment on one to be able to translate. Progress Energy fiber and our fiber and split it so that we would have redundant paths. The equipment has been purchased so now there are two paths to Progress Energy and two to ours in case one is completely severed we do not lose either system. Chairman Powell inquired if there was anything to add. Jan said that UNC-W was coming on board with the MCT mobile and they were going to have training for the new officers. If there is enough space, they will issue an invitation to others that may need the training. Debora Cottle will be the teacher. UNC-W has not given the specifications for what size room they are using for training and how much extra space there will be for others. Get in touch with Jan if anyone else needs this training as she would like to get as many people there as possible. Jerry Brewer wanted to know if he could be sent an email as far as the date was concerned. Jan will get that but there has not been a response yet when the facility is available. Jerry Brewer stated that they had a training room that was large enough for 20 or 30 people if the facility became an issue and to let him know. Chairman Powell adjourned at 10:25 A.M. to have the Board Members view a demonstration on patching.