Central Vermont Public Safety Authority

Central Vermont Public Safety Authority Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce Building July 21, 2016 Meeting Minutes – Draft Directors present: Dona Bate and Tom Golonka, representing the City of Montpelier; Michael Smith, representing Barre City; Kim Cheney and Alexandra Pastor, at-large directors. Directors absent: Martin Prevost, representing Barre City; Doug Hoyt, at-large director. Others attending: Joe Aldsworth; Paco Aumand, CVPSA Executive Director; Tim Bombardier; Scott Cameron, CVPSA labor attorney; Tony Facos (6:35); and Bob Sager, Board Treasurer. The meeting was opened by Tom at 6:31pm. The Agenda was approved, as presented, without objection. A motion to approve the minutes of the June 16th meeting was made by Michael, seconded by Alexandra. Motion passed. Paco led a discussion of the negotiations with Burlington Communications (BCS) regarding the radio upgrades and the effort to achieve redundancy and interoperability between the two municipalities’ dispatch centers. BCS offered two proposals. The first would purchase a third dispatch console for Barre City dispatch and provide interoperability by way of a “bridge” connecting the two dispatch centers – the cost of the proposal would be $62,000 for equipment and $19,000 for installation. The second proposal would provide for additional base stations, along with the additional dispatch console. This option would allow for the creation of redundant radio communication system between Montpelier and Barre. However, while redundancy is important this option would require Capital West to invest additional funds through the purchase of commercial circuits in order for Barre City to dispatch for them. This was found to be an unacceptable solution. Without the additional radio circuits Barre would not be able to communicate with the Capital West partners. Therefore, voice interoperability would not be possible between the two Cities. Interoperability (the ability to communicate between locations) and redundancy (the ability for one center two fully communicate in the event the other suffered a catastrophic shut down) are important attributes of this CVPSA plan for dispatching. However, it is important that at a minimum both Montpelier and Barre need to be able to communicate (interoperable communications) with each other’s partners. The cost of second proposal would be $78,000 for the equipment and $20,140 for the installation. Barre City Deputy Fire Chief Joe Aldsworth, Barre City Director of Public Safety Tim Bombardier and, Montpelier Police Chief Tony Facos all were part of the negotiations and agreed with the Executive Director’s recommendation that the Board choose the first proposal. The Board continued the discussion of funding installation costs for the current proposal and, the need to put funds for future installations in the upcoming budget request. A motion to approve the Executive Director’s recommendation of option 1 “the Bridge”, to approve the purchasing of the travel, project management and installation associated with option 1 and, to authorize the Executive Director to sign the necessary contracts with Burlington Communications (BCS), was made by Dona, seconded by Kim. Motion passed. The Board wanted to discuss labor contracts and meetings with labor leaders. A motion finding that premature public knowledge of this discussion would clearly place the Authority at a substantial disadvantage should the discussion be public, was made by Dona, seconded by Michael. Motion passed. A motion to go into executive session under the provisions of 1 VSA section 313 to discuss labor contracts and meetings with labor leaders, was made by Alexandra, seconded by Dona. Motion passed. The Board went into executive session at 7:10pm. Barre City Deputy Fire Chief Joe Aldsworth, Barre City Director of Public Safety Tim Bombardier, labor attorney Scott Cameron, Montpelier Police Chief Tony Facos and, Board Treasurer Bob Sager were all invited to join the executive session. A motion to come out of executive session was made by Michael, seconded by Dona. Motion passed. The Board came out of executive session at 8:38pm. No action was taken. Without objection Tom adjourned the meeting at 8:39pm. Respectfully submitted by, Michael Smith CVPSA Secretary The Next regularly scheduled meeting of the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority will be held August 18 6:30pm at the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce Building.