SARPY COUNTY E-911 COMMUNICATIONS

Minutes of the Meeting

 COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM ADVISORY BOARD

September 6, 2006

5:30 PM

The Communications Advisory Board Committee was convened in open and public session on September 6, 2006 at 5:33 PM, in the Sarpy County Board Meeting Room.  The following members or alternates were present:  Rolly Yost, Todd Grosse, Mark Wayne, Brett Schwasinger, Pat Archibald, Steve Betts, and Gary Troutman (late).  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 Clerks Office.  All proceedings were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

The by laws requirement of a quorum were not met.  Approval of meeting minutes will be held over until the November meeting.

Director’s Report:  Larry Lavelle advised that in the future, we would like coordination between the departments and the Communications Center to ensure the needs of all are covered.  The Tactical Interoperable Communications (TIC) Plan was approved by the Federal Government.  Copies will be emailed to members in PDF form.  We want the agencies to review the document because this is the roadmap for the future.  Over 85% of the wireless subscribers residing in Sarpy County are now covered by Phase II wireless technology.  T-Mobile was the most recent vendor added with Nextel scheduled for next week.  We are waiting on two others and then hope to have all vendors with subscribers in Sarpy County covered by Phase II.  We have met with Qwest and Positron regarding our 911 telephone system.  The current system will not be supported after the end of this year.  This project will be taken to the State Public Service Commission for consideration for reimbursement through the Wireless Fund.  Marilyn drafted wording for the Help a Firefighter and MAYDAY policy/procedures.  The draft is being reviewed by the fire departments for final comment.  Lightning struck the tower here at the courthouse in early August.  The radio trunking system was off line for approximately 90 minutes.  The back up plan worked well.  The real loss to the system was the wireless connection for LRMS.  A 4.9 GHz license was applied for and granted by the FCC.  With work by Sarpy IS, a new system was put into place and is working at this time.  Use of the 4.9 GHz will grow as the voice/data needs grow.  The Homeland Security grants were announced and the Sarpy LETPP requests were not funded.  An email was sent to the Director of Emergency Management asking why none of the Sarpy projects were funded.  Sarpy is part of the Omaha USAI group.  This group did receive $8,300,000 of which $4,200,000 is planned for communication links between the EOC’s and the Communications Centers in each county. 

Subcommittee Reports:  None.

Reports and General Updates:  John Prince (absent) and Elmer Martin (absent).  Steve Betts advised that he and Neil will verify if the Evacuation Tones will work on the older MTS radios.  Betts also advised that work still continues on the lap tops and that two are working well in Bellevue Police cruisers and one is installed and running at District 1 Fire.  Neil Johnson advised the group that the system clock replacements have been received and that grant funding had been received for 4 new control stations and a Raven interface to improve communications interoperability with our 800 MHz neighbors.  Rolly Yost advised that the Sheriff’s Department has been doing some testing with Sprint Wireless Internet connections for the cruiser laptops.

Reports/Emergency Management:   Joe Mastandrea advised that he is sending in updates to the LEOP and handed out information on an upcoming Weapons of Mass Destruction training class.

Old Business:  Rolly Yost advised that he had drafted a letter to the Douglas County Administrator regarding the release of radio ID’s.  The letter had not been sent due to the fact that the ID’s were released.

After determining the agenda for the November 1, 2006 meeting, meeting was adjourned at 6:12 PM.