COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM ADVISORY BOARD
Minutes of the September 3, 1997 Meeting
5:30 PM

The Communications Advisory Board Committee was convened in open and public session on September 3, 1997, at 5:30 PM, in the Sarpy County Board Room. The following members or alternates were present: S. P. Benson, Stu DeLaCastro, Travis Mayer, Guy Tramp, Mark Wayne, Les McCubbin, John Strawn, Louie Post, Mark Stoddard, Dan Hoins.
Absent: Paul Schultz, John Stacey.

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.

Mayer moved, seconded by Strawn to approve the minutes of the July 2, 1997 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.

Dan Peterson gave the Director's Report: The FY98 Budget has been approved and includes one additional dispatcher. Amended pro-rata information will be distributed. The E911 and Consolidated Communication have been combined to ease accounting issues. Moving to personnel issues, a new hire was terminated due to poor performance. Former Supervisor Talley's retirement was August 29. Two new hires will begin training on September 15, for a total of four in training. Historically we have seen a forty- percent failure rate among trainees. A commercial test is available, which predicts with 83% accuracy the success of training. Relatively inexpensive, they should pay for themselves quickly, since overtime and training costs for one two-month failure is over ten times the cost of twenty exams. Regarding MDC and ATIA, the County Attorney sent AMT a "failure to perform" letter on August 8, but has not received written reply. NSP has requested modification of its user agreement to add an 800 MHz base radio in Omaha. (Discussion and vote on this will be placed on the next agenda.) User identification lists were distributed for update. The September 2, 1997 rainstorm caused 15 seconds of failsoft at 3:15 AM. A microwave system firmware upgrade two weeks ago has improved this system. Peterson described an access problem noticed by Gretna FD, possibly due to inversion and the height of the antenna. Please report any access problems for further investigation. During routine maintenance last week, an outage occurred that did not produce "Failsoft" or "Out of Range" messages. Dispatchers called units on conventional channels per the SOG, but few mobile units made the move. Peterson asked users to review degraded operations procedures.

President Benson noted that monthly meetings might not be needed any longer, and placed meeting frequency on the next agenda.

Mayer noted that an SOG might be needed if NSP is allowed a base radio in their office. Communications Supervisor Gable asked if monthly meetings between communications and fire could be changed to meetings with fire and law enforcement on alternating months. There being general agreement, communications will meet with law enforcement personnel after next months meeting.

After determining the agenda for the October 2, 1997 meeting, Strawn moved, seconded by DeLaCastro, to adjourn at 5:59 P.M. Motion passed unanimously.

Sarpy County Communications Center Page

Created September 8, 1997