Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee Meeting
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Department of Safety and Homeland Security Conference Room
Dover, DE 19901
Members Present:
Robert Bracco – Civil Air Patrol
Mayor Carlton Carey, Sr. – League of Local
Government
Bill Carrow – DE Police Chief’s Council
Jennifer Dittman – DEMA
Gene Donaldson - DelDOT
Colin Faulkner – Kent County
Warren Jones - DVFA
Dave Hall - DOC
Greg Patterson – Office of the Governor
Lewis Schiliro – Secretary, DSHS
Tim Sexton - DPH
Joseph Thomas – Sussex County
Col. Dallas Wingate – DE National Guard
Alternates Present:
William Streets – New Castle County
Michael Witkowski – City of Wilmington
Members Absent:
Jim Cole – DTI
Kevin Neilson – Public Service Commission
David Roberts – New Castle County
Eric Wagner – City of Wilmington
Additional Attendees:
Beth Duncan - DivComm
Mark Grubb – DivComm
Tom Kadunce - DivComm
Beth Moran - DEMA
Richard Pounsberry - DOC
Joe Wessels – League of Local Government
Terry Whitham – DSHS
Agenda:
Welcoming Remarks –Secretary Schiliro
Approval of Meeting Minutes from Previous Meeting –Secretary Schiliro
Approval of September meeting minutes.
Subcommittee Updates
Operations –Gene Donaldson, DelDOT
Talkgroup request, City of Dover EOC
Technical –Jim Cole, DTI
Training and Exercise – Dave Roberts, New Castle County
COML & COMT Update – Bill Carrow
Scheduled Business Meeting
800 MHz System Update –Tom Kadunce
Update
Texting – Bill Carrow
System lifespan & future planning – Mark Grubb
700 MHz System Update – Tom Kadunce
Update
BDA Update –Tim Dobrowolski / Beth Duncan
Progress update – TO#7
Opt Out List – Mark Grubb
Rebanding Update – Tom Kadunce / Tim Dobrowolski (RCC Consulting)
Narrowbanding Update – Tom Kadunce
Exacom Update – Tom Kadunce
Broadband for Public Safety – Mark Grubb
New Business
Review, Discussion and Approval of By-Laws
2012 Meeting Schedule
NOTE – below is the list of meetings for the 2012. Please add these to your calendar so that we are able to secure the maximum attendance at each meeting.
ThursdayNovember 8th9am
ThursdayDecember 13th9am
Adjourn
Welcoming Remarks –Secretary Schiliro
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Secretary Schiliro.
Approval of Meeting Minutes from previous meeting –Secretary Schiliro
A motion was made by Gene Donaldson to accept the meeting minutes for September as written. Warren Jonesseconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Subcommittee Updates
Operations – Gene Donaldson
Talkgroup request, City of Dover EOC
The City of Dover Fire Marshalls Office requested a single talk group be added for key city command staff in the event of an emergency to communicate with the City’s EOC. Gene Donaldson made a motion to approve the requested talk group.Warren Jones seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Technical –Jim Cole, DTI
Mark Grubb reported on behalf of Jim Cole that they are gathering information for the needs assessment throughDSPtracking on inquiries and the rebanding effort. On Tuesday they met with the DVFA to collect information from them using spreadsheets. Once this data is all collected, they will go agency by agency. They should be releasing the information by early next year.
Training and Exercise – Dave Roberts, New Castle County
COML & COMT Update – Bill Carrow
Bill Carrow reported that 6 communications technicians were trained and need to get their task books completed; only two have completed them. We have two portable towers that we are setting up for several events coming up; NASCAR, Pumpkin Chunkin and Returns Day wherein a COMT can respond on the scene for technical support. Only two are currently certified in the State of Delaware and we should have the rest of them complete their certification by the end of November.
COML and COMT training is scheduled for April of next year. We currently do not have anyone COML certified in the State of Delaware. Anyone interested in attending the certification class should have a basic knowledge of the infrastructure and should contact Mark Grubb who is our SWIC for Delaware.
Scheduled Business Meeting
800 MHz System Update – Tom Kadunce
Update
There are no knew updates on the system.
Texting – Bill Carrow
Motorola is offering a full keypad for texting capabilities. There was concern that the use of texting would interfere with voice communications, but voice would have priority over texting. The full keypad functionality cannot be used on the current system until it is upgraded to P25, and it’s more expensive than the recommended model, so it’s not recommended they spend the additional money for this product.
System lifespan & future planning – Mark Grubb
Mark and Bill met with Motorola representatives regarding the future support of the existing 800 MHz system. Motorola will support the existing system through 2018, but there are not as many parts available. Motorola will provide a proposal to upgrade the existing controller to P-25 standard in the near future.
As previously reported, existing XTS 3000 models and Spectra mobile radios are coming back un-repairable due to the lack of parts available. Agencies are starting to replace these radios as needed to be P-25 compatible but should budget funds each year for replacing these older models in use. Jennifer Dittman reported that grant funding is decreasing 50% annually, so there may not be grant funding available for the replacement of end user equipment.The Operational Sub-committee will come up with a briefing paper for the status of existing radios no longer supported by Motorola with strategies and recommendations for budgeting funds over time.
700 MHz System Update – Tom Kadunce
Update
The 700 MHz system is reported as being stable. DivComm is working with Dave Hall for best use of gateways through PSAPs on the last Friday of the month. We are still trying to obtain technical data on the emergency call last month. No further problems have been reported.
BDA Update – Tim Dobrowolski / Beth Duncan
Progress update – TO#7
Beth Duncan reported that the Rust Arena, Allen Lab, DuPont Hall and Theater Scene Shop have been completed. Two site walks have been completed for Centerville and Stonegate, who reconsidered after receiving their opt-out letter. We are awaiting proposals for Astra Zeneca and Seaford School site walks.
Opt Out List – Mark Grubb
We have sent out letters through U.S. Mail and certified mail and are getting responses from those letters. The Secretary requested that the list of critical buildings show the percentage of coverage in each building and applauded the progress made to promote enhancing radio communications in the list of critical buildings. There is approximately $2M left in the budget for this project and the owners are paying 50% of the expense for the BDA installations.
Rebanding Update – Tom Kadunce / Tim Dobrowolski (RCC Consulting)
Tom Kadunce reported that DSP should be completed by the end of the week. Some of the fire houses had radios that were not reported as being rebanded. These radios have been inhibited in an attempt to make sure all radios that are still in use will be reported and rebanded. Please make sure that if your radio was sent in for repair during the rebanding process that you received a spare radio to use until the original radio is repaired and returned.
Narrowbanding Update – Tom Kadunce
We are 71% completed statewide with the Narrowbanding project. We are waiting for pagers in New Castle County to come in and the process to narrowband once they are in should take one to two days. We are working with the City of Dover to get their radios rebanded or replaced. It’s taken a long time to get their inventory completed, but they are proactively trying to get their rebanding done, but may not meet the December 31st deadline. We are pleading their case to the FCC so they do not get fined. Agencies that have not made an effort to reband and/or update their licenses will be fined by the FCC. Over 900 letters were sent out to licensees to update their licenses. Tom can assist them by walking them through the process or give him access to their license online.
Exacom Update – Tom Kadunce
Everyone is on the same version now and for the last few weeks the system seems to have stabilized. Joe Thomas confirmed that their tech support worked with Exacom and everything seems to be fine now.
Broadband for Public Safety – Mark Grubb
The person assigned to FirstNet is a Federal government employee who used to be a State employee. FirstNet put out comments on how they envision the system to be built using wireless carriers to reduce the cost and speed. Public Safety can roam over when there is no coverage. A lot of comments are going out, but there’s a long road to go. It’s too early to make any sold decisions because there are no solid rules at this time. We will have a better picture in the first part of the year.
New Business
Review, Discussion and Approval of By-Laws
There is a new red-lined version of By-Laws to be distributed to the members for consideration at the next SIEC meeting.
Terry Whitham reported that they are conducting the vendor presentations for the 911 upgrade. They are down to two vendors but may still have a third vendor to consider. They are keeping an eye on broadband and working to keep the cost competitive.
The next scheduled meeting for Thursday, November 8th falls on Returns Day, which will have an impact on attendance from representatives involved in the event. The Secretary asked if there were any pressing issues that could not wait until December. Having heard none, it was decided to cancel the November meeting.
Adjourn
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, December 13th at 9am. Please mark your calendars accordingly.The meeting adjourned at 10:12am.
Respectfully submitted,
Maria A. Fry