HomeMy WebLinkAboutE911Minutes_2009_02_13East Central Communications Council Meeting
City Hall meeting room
February 13, 2009
8:30am
Board members present: Dennis Falken(County Commission), Don Larson(County Commission), and Jeff
Weldon(City Manager)
Others present: Todd Struwe(Emergency Mgnt.), Jeff Miller(BPD), Darrell Hartmann(Fire Dept), Mark
Stratton(Communications), Ryan Brunner(City Council)
Call to order: Meeting called to order by Dennis Falken. Jeff Weldon/Dennis Falken moved to approve
the minutes of the February 13, 2009 meeting. All present voted aye. Motion approved.
Addition to the Agenda:
Bills :
Dennis went over the recurring bills and mentioned that we should request a budget print out
from the auditor 1 week before the meeting. Weldon/Larson made a motion to approve the
bills. All present voted aye motion approved.
Reports
Dennis mentioned that he has been selected to sit on the state 911 committee. This
committee would set standards, funding, and operations for dispatch centers through South
Dakota. This state E911 committee wants to know what the money is being used for and what
amount of money is being spent on communications. Dennis thinks that we need to look at
making this E911 one budget. The state 911 task force is going to come around and take a
look at what the actual dispatch costs are. Dennis also mentioned that the dispatch in
Brookings is not just doing 911. They are doing city dispatch for city officers and that is an
obligation expense that the city should be occurring. Weldon asked what does the law state
we can use that .75 for. Dennis said it’s very vague. Weldon asked if we only get the .75 from
the cell phone companies that are generated in Brookings county. Dennis said yes.
Miller asked if there are certain things that we paid for out of our budget like signage. Dennis
said there has been some discussion about signage whether if that is a true expenditure or
not. Dennis thinks that the initial signage is ok but the maintenance and upkeep is in question
as to if that is a true 911 expense. Dennis stated that he thinks that maintenance and upkeep
should be an 911 expense.
Dennis stated that the state E911 committee is going to come in and look at the budget and
right now the city doesn’t deal with the money that is sitting over at the county how are we
going to show that as part of our budget. Miller asked Vicki what our budget was and were at
as of January 30th we are at $263,486.55. The only thing that has been paid out since then is
$713.45 to ITC. Dennis mentioned that is confusing because our budget for 09 is for
$252,000. Dennis stated that Vicki is telling us that there is $263,000 is the balance because
this is a revolving fund that the money stays in there. To Dennis that means that is what is in
the check book. If we budget $252,000 in exp enses that we anticipate that we are going to
spend for this year then we would be down $11,000 if we spend everything. That’s just out of
the .75 money that’s not what the cost to operate this dispatch center. Dennis said we need to
think of a better way of handling both budgets. Weldon is wondering if we should go back to
basics and say what are all of the expenditures that go into dispatch and see where we’re at.
Weldon thinks that Mark Stratton should do a time study analysis and see what the call load is
like. What are the non emergency calls coming in and walk-ins. And figure out how we
approach that relevant to the revenue. Dennis thinks this is a way of satisfying the city on why
the city is paying and the county is not. Dennis thinks what we should do is take the city
budget of $200,000 and the $250,000 from the surcharge and put all that into a
communication budget which this board is responsible for. Because it is a tough decision on
paying out bills if it should be 70/30 or if a certain bill should come out of the 911 fund or the
city pays for it. Weldon asked if 20% is dispatched the other is non dispatch calls for PD. The
Sheriff has somebody answering their non emergency dispatch calls right. Stratton said that
any calls for services whether they are emergency or non emergency service calls go through
the PD.
Dennis asked if the city has a separate revolving fund for the money to stay in and be carried
over. Weldon stated that we don’t but he thinks it can be done. We have it set up as a line
item in the general fund. Weldon stated the city puts in 226,080 and 170,000 is transferred
from the Telco companies to make a total of 396,000. Dennis said if you transfer all the
surcharge money to the city’s budget we would lose it. Weldon said that we wouldn’t and we
want to make sure that there is capital money set a side for the dispatch. Dennis stated that
the county’s budget is a revolving fund and the money stays in there. If there is any money left
over it is carried over. Weldon said that we don’t have to put it into the general fund. We can
set up a special line item for this. Weldon also mentioned that we need to determine on how
much does the city put in as well as the county beyond the Telco money. Dennis said that the
county hasn’t been putting any money into the E911 budget. Weldon asked what year did we
do a system upgrade to the 911 consoles? Dennis said 05’ or 06’. Stratton mentioned that the
center is up-to-date. Dennis said that we have to plan and budget for the updates and the
software changeovers. Weldon mentioned that we could set up a special line item fund for the
Telco money; take an annual appropriation from the county. Dennis would like to see the two
budgets together and see what we are actually spending. Don Larson stated that we won’t be
able to give them an exact cost on how much it is to run 911 because everybody works
together. Dennis said that anything in that dispatch center that is used for a 911 call is 100%
911 and is eligible for the .75 surcharge. It doesn’t matter what that person is doing. Dennis
thinks the only reason we are going to have to consider what we think being city and what
being county is internally when we start putting money into this fund from city and county.
Weldon stated that we know we are going to have to put money into this to meet our budget.
We just have to figure out how much each is going to contribute. Dennis stated that if this was
done right you would spend all the city money first and then start taking out of the 911
because that money can be left there and is not spent and is used for equipment. Miller asked
if we are building a contingency amount. Dennis said that the contingency hasn’t been
planned for it’s just whatever is left in the budget at the end of the year. Weldon stated that
there hasn’t been anything set aside to build a contingency. Dennis stated that if we budget for
our revenue and we collect more being there is more cell phones. Don Larson mentioned that
there is no other way to expand our revenue because all of the other counties in our area are
aligned with someone else.
Darrel talked about mobile data terminals he wants to keep it on the table. Darrel thinks it
would be a benefit to Fire Department, PD and the EMT’s. Dennis said that Darrell needs to
take the lead and as far as getting information and bring it to this committee so we can budget
for it. Weldon asked if this is a GIS system in each vehicle. Darrell said that it is a data link. It
will update location. When dispatch tones us out it will send a data track . The mobile data
terminals will receive that it will show where you are at and what the fastest way of getting to
the location. Weldon asked if this is done over an antenna. Darrell said that there is several
different ways of doing it. Miller stated that we can identify what are start up costs are but then
there is also a monthly service fee and the question is where will that come out of and it will
increase our line items.
Todd Struwe went over the Federal Mandate for the Narrow Band analog system. January
2013 we have to have this done.
The next meeting is set for Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 8:30am
Regular quarterly meetings are held in January, May and September. Budget meetings
are held in June.
Adjournment
Submitted by Chris Larson