Emergency Communications Board

BRISTOL TENNESSEE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING January 16, 2013 ITEM 1. Roll Call All Board members present. Attorney Ricky Curtis was absent. ITEM 2. Recognize Guests Mike Callahan ITEM 3. Minutes of Previous Meeting – November 21, 2012 Tim Eads made a motion, seconded by Frank Blanton, to approve the minutes from the 11/21/2012 meeting. All voted in favor. ITEM 4. Financials A. Review of Receipts/Expenditures All receipts were reviewed by the Board members. B. Treasurer’s Report. David Warren presented the Treasurer’s Reports. Frank Blanton made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented. Motion was seconded by Jim Messimer. Roll call vote: Blanton – yes, Eads –yes, Hillman – yes, Honaker – yes, Messimer – yes, Wade – yes. Warren – yes. Motion passed. ITEM 5. Old Business A. Report on Operations & Equipment 1. Overview of Operations a. Radio Low Volume Motorola representatives came up and met with Mrs. Smelser concerning this continuing issue last week. In the course of the meeting, we identified a couple of separate issues that had not been reported. They have installed some monitoring equipment at the Holston Mountain tower site. The monitor is already reporting issues and they are being evaluated by Motorola engineers. They have found a link down and that is being repaired. A system fault error has occurred at the prime site in Blountville and they are working on this also. b. Personnel All new personnel have been released from training with the exception of Penny Durham. She should be released by the end of February. Once she is released, the communications center will be at full staff. There are two dispatchers who have applied for police officer positions with the Department. It will probably be late spring before we know if they will be transferring to patrol.  BRISTOL TENNESSEE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING January 16, 2013 c. Internet connection No change. d. Status Update on Web page Move to City Server The City is creating a new website with a new host and the 911 site will be consolidated with the City’s. This is in progress. e. Update on GEO/GIS/TIPS The new format for the data has been implemented. David Metzger and Jon Hamic with the City have done an excellent job with this project. Our data has gone to the State with the excused anomalies and we have an unofficial error rate of less than 2%. Mr.Metzger is in the process of trying to correct these errors. The State has not given any official reports as of today. The State is in the process of implementing a process to keep the Districts aware of their status and progress. f. Update on Next Gen Mapping, Jurisdictions, Boundaries We sent our updated maps and data to our mapping company and they have put the data into the official Tennessee format. They have returned the data to us for installation. Supervisor Callahan spent several days last week updating our consoles and servers with the updated maps and data. Several months ago we signed a boundary and jurisdictional agreement with the surrounding 911 Districts as required by the State. Last week the Fire Department contacted me reference to several calls wherein they were dispatched to calls within the corporate limits and when they arrived on the scene, members from a local Volunteer Fire Department were already on scene. It was determined that when a cell call goes into the county dispatch for a call within the corporate limits of the City of Bristol, they dispatch their units and then either relay or transfer the call to us for processing. The county dispatch is not advising our dispatch that they are sending county units. There is an existing mutual aid agreement between the Fire Department and Sullivan County EMS so their response is not an issue. The problem is the Volunteer Fire Departments being dispatched into the City without the knowledge or authorization of our Fire Department. Chief Barnes sent Mrs. Smelser a letter explaining the issue. Mrs. Smelser then made contact with the management of the County dispatch and 911. The county 911 and dispatch officials are working with our Fire Department and Mrs. Smelser to resolve this issue.  BRISTOL TENNESSEE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING January 16, 2013 Chief Wade made the statement that emergency vehicles have to receive his approval to operate inside the corporate limits of Bristol Tennessee. B. Statistics Mrs. Smelser presented the end of the year statistical reports. C. Update on Regional 911 Solution Both controllers are up and functioning in the test environment. The installs of the local PSAPs have started. Washington County 911 was chosen to go first, then Sullivan County, and then Bristol. Our install is scheduled for the last week of March. The Ethernet links to the State system have been installed and been billed already. Our part, which was about $6,900, was paid and are among the receipts being reviewed by the Board today. Our equipment room was supposed to be ready for the install by the end of December; however, IT has been running behind. Mr. Cross has assured Mrs. Smelser they will work toward getting this completed this month. In addition to the moving issues, with all the heavy rain over the past week, we have developed several major water leaks in the ceiling of the computer room and the radio room. The equipment has been covered and protected by plastic sheeting. The City is having a new roof installed and once that is completed, this issue should go away. The only damage we have involves some ceiling tiles. D. Update on Regions Bank A copy of Mr. Lauzon’s response from Regions Bank was provided to each Board member. Mr. Warren has researched other banks and has actually visited First Bank. In order to move our money to First Bank from Regions, Mrs. Smelser needs each Board member’s name, address, social security number, and a copy of their driver’s license. In addition, the bank requires a copy of the minutes showing a motion by the Board to open the account and transfer the funds. Also, they require a copy of the City Council resolution creating the Bristol Tennessee Emergency Communications District. Regions has been unable to locate our updated signature cards and cannot provide a reasonable explanation as to why our account changed from public funds. Frank Blanton made a motion, seconded by Tim Eads, to move the money currently at Regions Bank to First Bank as recommended by Mr. Warren, the Board Treasurer. Roll call: Blanton – yes, Eads –yes, Hillman – yes, Honaker – yes, Messimer – yes, Wade – yes. Warren – yes. Motion passed. E. Update on Upgrading Protocol/QA Software Due to the holidays and other major projects, there has been no progress on this item.  BRISTOL TENNESSEE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING January 16, 2013 ITEM 6. New Business A. Discussion of Required Inter-Local Cooperation Agreement for Designated Back Up PSAP as Required by TECB The Board members were provided a sample contract provided by the TECB. The TECB is requiring all Tennessee Districts to formally adopt an Inter-Local Cooperation Agreement with another Tennessee District designating them as an emergency backup. Our backup is currently Bristol Virginia and will have to be changed under the new TECB requirements. Mr. Lowry, with Sullivan County 911, has agreed to have their District function as our emergency backup. Sullivan County is designated as the emergency backup for Kingsport 911. Sullivan County is on a shared radio system with us and they are close enough that we can provide personnel to their center to answer our calls. Mr. Lowry and Lt. Seabolt have both agreed that in the event of activation of the emergency backup plan, they would welcome our personnel and make space available for them to work during the event. Sullivan County has five full console positions with 911 answering equipment and the 800 MHz radio system loaded with Bristol talk groups. Mrs. Smelser advised Mr. Curtis has not reviewed the contract but if the Board was agreeable, she would forward it to him for his review. Tim Eads made a motion to use Sullivan County 911 as our designated emergency backup center pending Mr. Curtis’ review of the contract. Motion was seconded by Jim Messimer. Roll call: Blanton – yes, Eads –yes, Hillman – yes, Honaker – yes, Messimer – yes, Wade – yes. Warren – yes. Motion passed. B. Deltalert Changing to Code Red Code Red has officially purchased Deltalert. A copy of the notification letter was provided to each Board member. All Deltalert users will be transferred to the Code Red system at no additional charge. Mrs. Smelser has spoken to Greg Bonner, our Deltalert representative, and he has been hired by Code Red. It is his understanding that he will continue to manage our account. He advised that none of the fees or costs will change and we will have some additional features. There will also be an option to purchase additional modules. C. Certification as a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Partner A little over a year ago, Mrs. Smelser started working toward obtaining certified partner status with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The TECB has set this as a goal for all 911 Districts in Tennessee. Part of the certification process is adopting the Center’s best practices as policy in the call center and training all personnel through the Center’s training program. Mrs. Smelser has attended two specialized schools for administering the program and all the dispatchers have completed the five hour training course on handling these type calls. The Police Department is in the process of formalizing the best practices into General Orders. Mrs. Smelser received email confirmation from the National Center last week that we have been approved as a certified partner.  BRISTOL TENNESSEE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING January 16, 2013 D. Crisis Communications Training (Hostage Negotiations) This training is scheduled on two separate days next week. All communications personnel will complete this training and be certified. E. Active Shooter Training We are in the process of setting up this training for all our dispatchers. This is a goal for us in the coming year. Mrs. Smelser has already started working on a new call handling protocol for this situation. The National Academy of Dispatch wrote a sample protocol and has provided it to all public safety communications centers free of charge. ITEM 7. Discussion Items Mrs. Smelser advised the Board that the computer monitors in dispatch are starting to have problems and a couple have had to be replaced. These monitors are on 24 x 7 and are worn out. She stated that she is working with IT on pricing to replace eight of the monitors and use the ones that are salvageable as emergency replacements. ITEM 8. Other Matters We will have first reading of the proposed budget at the February meeting. The second and final reading with presentation of the Inter-Local Agreement with the City of Bristol will be at the March meeting. ITEM 9. Citizens and Delegations Presentation ITEM 10. Next meeting February 20, 2013.