SARPY COUNTY E-911 COMMUNICATIONS

Minutes of the Meeting

 COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM ADVISORY BOARD

November 1, 2006

The Communications Advisory Board Committee was convened in open and public session on November 1, 2006 at 5:35 PM, in the Sarpy County Board Meeting Room.  The following members or alternates were present:  Ed Monnier, Rod Buethe, Kirk Schuster, Bob Roseland, Rolly Yost, Steve Betts, Bob Lausten, Mark Wayne, Pat Archibald, John Stacey, and Leonard Houloose.  Notice of the meeting was given in advance by publication in the Bellevue Leader and the Papillion Times.  Copies of the 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.

Lausten moved, seconded by Schuster, to approve the minutes of the July 5, 2006 meeting.  The minutes of the September 6, 2006 did not need approval since there was not a quorum for that meeting.  Motion passed unanimously.

Director’s Report:  Larry Lavelle advised the group the Operation Triple Play Exercise went well with a few minor glitches.  Rolly advised his department had  trouble with the scan feature on the radios during the drill.  Kirk Schuster advised that FD digital & LE digital were not being used properly during the drill.  Larry also advised that the consolette project is underway for more interoperability.  CAD upgrade will be on November 14th. The TIC plan was not distributed because of changes being made. Once they are finalized, all members will receive a copy. Larry received a letter from the Public Service Commission that 100% funding may be available for a new 911 phone system.  The Commission has requested costs for planning purposes. Larry also advised that he had a meeting with the center’s medical director, Dr. Jeff Strohmyer in regards to our recent refresher on use of the EMD cards.  He is interested in the QA portion of the card usage, and would like to meet with supervisors on a quarterly basis to see how things are going.  Larry also discussed RF coverage in buildings in the county.  The county does have an ordinance on the books in regards to this, but each city does not.  Larry encouraged each department head to draft a similar ordinance for their cities and take to their city councils for approval.  He also discussed with the group a possible policy change in regards to the way the dispatchers are answering the non emergency phones in the center.  So as to not mislead the public that we are employees of a particular law agency, all non emergency phone calls will be answered “Communications.”  It was also reiterated to the law agencies that if an officer/deputy is on an incident and requests a rescue squad to advise the basic information for dispatch to fire/rescue, such as age/sex/conscious/breathing/chief complaint.

Subcommittee Reports:  None.  Rolly Yost advised that a subcommittee needs to be established for mapping.  He asked for volunteers, but will appoint members if there are no volunteers.

Reports and General Updates:  An Event Channel has been set up and will be left in place during the grand opening of Cabela’s.  Rolly asked Larry how Wireless Phase II testing was coming and what our coverage at this time is.  Larry advised we would be doing some more testing with Nextel this week and that Leap Communications (Cricket) still has not done any testing.  Larry advised he believes that we are near 90% of the wireless subscribers residing in Sarpy County are now covered by Phase II wireless technology.  Mark Wayne advised that the courthouse addition will probably begin in December and that about 150 parking slots will be gone during the construction.  A gravel lot will be added.

Elmer Martin advised again that the CAD upgrade will be on November 14th.  He also added that the first round of Fire Department MDC training went well.  Neil Johnson reminded the group that we are on the 12th year of the current radio system and that plans need to start in regards to upgrading/replacing it.

Larry advised that the EOC was activated during the Operation Triple Play drill. 

After determining the agenda for the January 3, 2007 meeting, Stacey moved, seconded by Betts to adjourn the meeting at 6:27 pm.  Motion passed unanimously.