HomeMy WebLinkAboutE911Minutes_2012_01_19East Central Communications Council Meeting
City Hall Meeting Room
Thursday, January 19, 2012
8:30am
Board members present: Stephanie Miller (County Commission), Deanna Santema (County
Commission), and Jael Thorpe (City Council), Jeff Weldon (City Manager).
Others present: Todd Struwe (Emergency Mgmt.), Jeff Miller (BPD), Darrell Hartmann (Fire
Dept.), Bob Hill, and Mark Stratton (Communications)
Members Absent: Marty Stanwick (SO).
Call to order: Meeting was called to order by Santema. Weldon/Thorpe moved to
approve the minutes of the October 2011 meeting. All present voted aye. Motion
approved.
Addition to the Agenda: none
Bills: Jeff Miller reviewed non-recurring bills. Miller/ Thorpe moved to approve non-
recurring bills. All present voted aye. Motion approved.
Old Business:
Follow-up on County Fire Department coverage. Struwe received an estimate for a two
repeater system for the county; $10,000 each installed. The difficulty would be getting it
licensed and approved from the FCC and FAA; could be a 2-year time frame, which doesn’t
include tower rental and installation. Hartmann clarified even with a two side repeater there
will be ‘dead’ areas because of pictography. He suggested a four tower system might get better
coverage. Struwe explained one option could be when dispatch sends out a page, to also send a
page to cell phones. Hartmann stated they previously tested this software, but it had too much
of a lag time, and are now looking at another system called “I Am Responding”. This system
has a quick response: when dispatch sends the page it takes a millisecond response time before
a text is received. Firefighters then respond back allowing the chief to see how many people
will be responding. Miller asked about ‘dead’ spots where there isn’t cell phone service.
Hartmann stated then this won’t work because of the pictography; there is nothing you can do
about that unless you put a tower up. Miller commented on previous conversations about
moving a tower. If a tower was relocated you are just moving the problem; the best solution
would be to add another tower, but there are still no guarantees. It is not a problem getting
the pages out. Sometimes if they are in a building, they’ don’t receive the page and then they
start texting each other. Two repeaters may fix the problem, but it’s not a quick fix and it’s not
guaranteed. Sioux Falls Two Way may need to come up and explain the options. Struwe stated
departments and agencies need to get off the repeater when they’re on scene. When one is on
scene, they need to communicate radio to radio and get off the repeater. The nice thing about
radio to radio is, there is very little problems as long as you can see each other you can talk to
each other.
J. Miller was concerned with the article. During the meetings with county fire departments
regarding this recurring problem and have made some recommendations to them as far as
equipment upgrades to alleviate some of their problems.
Hartman reviewed narrow banding. County Fire Departments have different tones alerting
different cities. When dispatch goes narrow band everyone will have to be narrow banded in
order to receive the pages. White has quite a few radios which are not compatible; they have
known about this for some time. Miller stated there is a federal mandate when this is to be
completed. Miller stated the mobiles cost $1,600 vs. $400 for portables. Hartman stated
departments were informed of this change and were told to budget for the change and
suggested dipping into their savings. Hartman has already identified radios which cannot be
upgraded, and have the county fire departments we will be there to help them. The lap top
computers are ready to go; it will take one day to switch the city fire department over. The
county fire departments will have to switch over at the same time as they operate on the same
frequency. Miller would like to see city and county fire departments switch over at the same
time. Weldon asked about the Sherriff’s office. Miller stated they have quite a number of
radios that are not narrow band able, and will be going strictly digital for the time being.
Weldon asked if that’s an issue with switching over. Miller stated they will be on the state
system. Stratton commented the digital system works best in the county except when one is in
a building. Hartman stated digital is not an option for fire departments as one cannot be paged
or toned out over digital. The city fire department is waiting to switch over until the county is
ready as this may cause an issue for city radios. Weldon asked what the dollar amount would
be for all rural fire departments to get radios; $30-$40,000 for pagers and 2-ways.
New Business:
Miller reviewed a proposal to increase the surcharge money to $1.25, which will help run the
PSAP. In order to receive this increase, we will have to meet the new standards requiring which
two dispatchers on duty 24/7. The initial sharing percentage is based on population, then if you
are a PSAP that was funding 3 or more jurisdictions then it would get a higher percentage of
that. Under population, the figure estimated was $92,000 in funding. The increase will only
fund one additional dispatcher, not two. Moody and Lake County are hoping there is an option
to operate together as one PSAP. The state is going to withhold some money for upgrades;
hoping to use some money for the upgrades to the Zetron computers. Brookings is currently
receiving all of their PSAP funds. Weldon suggested to have the $1.25 go into effect, but delay
the funds for 2 years, until it goes up to $1.50. The bill in front of the legislature would have to
be written to reflect that.
Member Reports
Miller reviewed with the board the start of the annual report.
Hill gave an update on Pictometry and stated the contract is written with a fly-by to be held
every three years. Jason Musenbuger will be coordinating.
♦ Next meeting: April 19, 2012 at 8:30am
♦ Regular quarterly meetings are held in January, April, July, and October on the 3rd
Thursday of the month. Budget discussion is held in May.
Adjourn
Submitted by Chris Larson