SARPY COUNTY E-911 COMMUNICATIONS

Minutes of the Meeting

 COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM ADVISORY BOARD

January 3, 2007

The Communications Advisory Board Committee was convened in open and public session on January 3, 2007 at  5:35 pm, in the Sarpy County Board Meeting Room.  The following members or alternates were present:  John W. Stacey, Rolly Yost, Steve Betts, Leonard Houloose, Bill Bowes, Kirk Schuster, Kevin Pokorny, Pat Archibald, Rod Buethe, Brett Schwasinger, and Bob Roseland.  Notice of the meeting was given in advance by publication in the Bellevue Leader and the Papillion Times.  Copies of Proofs of Publication are on file in the Sarpy County Clerk’s Office.  All proceedings were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

Buethe moved, seconded by Schuster, to approve the minutes of the November 1, 2006 meeting.  Motion passed unanimously.

Director’s Report:  It was noted that the County recognized the day of mourning for Gerald Ford as a holiday. The additional holiday and overtime pay was not planned in the budget.

Lavelle reported that he had received a request from Plattsmouth Fire Department to add Sarpy talk groups into their radios. Yost stated that he had received a request from Ralston Public Works asking for the same. A motion made by John Stacey and seconded by Kirk Schuster for approval for Plattsmouth Fire and Ralston Public Works to add Sarpy County fire talk groups into their radios. Discussion followed and the vote taken. The motion passed unanimously.  

Lavelle updated the board on the status of high performance data testing. The SCSO has a unit with the modem installed with the laptop running Premiere MDC. Yost confirmed that the vehicle was on the street.

Lavelle stated that the Codespear software contract was in the final stages of approval. Also along with that product, the department was upgrading the Avaya switch to provide redundancy for the UASI area in case Douglas or Washington County could not make the notifications. Each county will provide for the back-up for the other counties. The other UASI project dealing with radio communications is near completion. John Prince, Elmer Martin and Larry will attend the Motorola User Conference the week of January 14th.

Lavelle will be attending a 2 day Nebraska Emergency Management Agency’s Exercise Planning Workshop and Division of Communications Interoperability Conference in North Platte at the end of the month. One day is scheduled to discuss the State’s regional radio plan and the second day is scheduled for exercise and training.

 The staffing level in the department is at the current allocation of 33 fully qualified dispatchers.    No vacancies at this time. There is one dispatcher off on maternity leave at this time, due back February 7th.

A meeting is scheduled with the County Administrator and the Buildings and Grounds Director to discuss special concerns in the 911 center. As the numbers of officers on the street and 9-1-1 calls from the citizen increase, the need for space is a growing concern.

Committee Reports:  Yost and Prince reported on the Motorola mapping application demonstration they attended. The feature set was impressive. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) is a component of this mapping application. It will interface with the current CAD product.  Prince stated that they are examining certain layers they would like to see in the map. The need for other County maps, Cass, Saunders, is being examined. The cost of the system was discussed. More information will be gathered at the Motorola User conference on this product.

General Reports:  Prince explained the reports he provided to each agency. The reports were generated after separating incidents that are officer initiated and incidents created by other sources, primarily 9-1-1 calls.

Crime View software was demonstrated and information was provided to all law agencies. This product does interface with the current LRMS. The vendor is being invited to Sarpy County to examine the current system and a cost of that product will be determined after the visit. The mobile data computer training of fire department personnel is on-going. Those departments that have not been trained will be contacted and scheduled.

Steve Betts asked the agencies to check the programming contact on the portable radios that are using a speaker microphone. He has seen dirt build up on those contacts that can cause permanent damage. Simple cleaning of the contact points will take care of the issue. He reiterated the importance of verifying the radio coverage inside of new buildings.

Neil Johnson reported that batteries at both the Springfield and Gretna paging sites had been replaced. The 4 new control stations are in and programmed. The Department is waiting for delivery of the Raven switch. Once in place, the Sarpy system will interface with the surrounding counties radio systems to provide better interoperability between agencies.

Emergency Management:   Lisa Rink provided a memo from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency explaining the requirements of the ICS 300 and 400 classes. She said that agencies will need to create a list of those needing to attend. Kirk Schuster stated that he has completed the training and that the State is not putting these classes on line. He is working on scheduling for classes.

There is training being scheduled for the Nebraska Crime Commission software. Date/time and location have not been set.

Steve Betts moved to adjourn, seconded by John Stacey. The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 PM