DuPage County Emergency Telephone System Board Policy Advisory Committee Met May 3.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
1. CALL TO ORDER
9:00 AM meeting was called to order by Chair Timothy Hayden at 9:02 AM. Chairman Hayden opened the meeting by reading the Illinois Attorney General’s “Guidance to Public Bodies on the Open Meetings Act during the COVID-19 Pandemic” preamble.
A. To view the live stream video of this meeting, please go to https://youtu.be/fiEzA6DE8C4
2. ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Hayden (Remote), Baarman, Gorsky (Remote), Kramer (Remote)
ABSENT:
Attendees:
Director Zerwin, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board
Matt Theusch, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board
Eve Kraus, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board
Jim Connolly, Westmont Fire Department (Remote)
Andrew Dina, Warrenville Fire Protection District (Remote)
Steve Herron, Roselle Police Department (Remote)
Bill Holmer, Carol Stream Police Department (Remote)
Brandon Hurd - Addison Consolidated Dispatch Center (Remote)
Patrick Johl - Wood Dale Fire Protection (Remote)
John Lozar, DU-COMM (Remote)
Dave Schar, Winfield Police Department (Remote)
Eric Swanson, DuPage County Sheriff’s Department (Remote)
Andrea Lieberenz, Addison Police Department, Secretary (Remote)
The Members of the PAC attended via teleconference. On roll call, Chairman Hayden, Member Baarman, Member Gorsky, and Member Kramer were present, which constituted a quorum.
3. CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS - CHAIR - HAYDEN
There were no remarks from Chairman Hayden.
4. PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no Public comment.
5. CONSENT ITEMS
A. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Member Gorsky, seconded by Member Baarman, to forward the minutes from the April 5, 2021 and April 19, 2021 meetings to the ETS Board to receive and place on file. On roll call, motion carried.
A. ETSB - Policy Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting - Apr 5, 2021 9:00 AM
| RESULT: RECEIVE AND PLACE ON FILE [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steven Gorsky, Chief Darien-Woodridge FD SECONDER: Matt Baarman, Du-Comm AYES: Hayden, Baarman, Gorsky, Kramer |
| RESULT: RECEIVE AND PLACE ON FILE [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steven Gorsky, Chief Darien-Woodridge FD SECONDER: Matt Baarman, Du-Comm AYES: Hayden, Baarman, Gorsky, Kramer |
1. 20-21-31 DEDIRS Monthly Maintainer Report
All Members had already received and reviewed the Radio Maintainer Report.
A motion was made by Member Gorsky, seconded by Member Baarman, On roll call, motion carried.
| RESULT: ACCEPTED AND PLACED ON FILE [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steven Gorsky, Chief Darien-Woodridge FD SECONDER: Matt Baarman, Du-Comm AYES: Hayden, Baarman, Gorsky, Kramer |
A. Encryption Discussion Continued
1. Outside System Access Discussion
Chairman Hayden opened by stating the discussions on encryption will continue but no decisions will be made, as new members will be appointed at the next ETS Board meeting on May 12. He said information can be gathered to taken back to member agencies.
Member Baarman displayed the APXNext radio. The APXNext radio is one of Motorola's newest radios and is the size of a cell phone and has a short antenna. It has a smart tech feature, which means if a user is out of range of radio network, it can use an LTE or cell phone network to talk on the same talkgroups, similar to the WAVE App. It has voice command to change channels without changing via the knob. It also contains GPS to see where other APX radios are located, as well as a text messaging feature.
A discussion ensued on the specs of the police version of the Next versus the fire APXNextXE. Ms. Zerwin is working with Motorola to obtain samples of the ruggedized APXNextXE for review by the fire agencies. She advised there is a sign out form along with spec sheets in the radio case which will be sent between the agencies so they can be tested and reviewed for two (2) days before being passed to a neighboring agency.
Chief Herron questioned the cost of the APXNext radio models to which Ms. Zerwin replied that information is not yet available. He further questioned if ETSB is anticipating purchasing radios including the CSOs and Records staff, etc.. Ms. Zerwin replied the APX7000 radios in the system can fill in those gaps until decisions are made.
Ms. Zerwin discussed an issue regarding FM (Factory Mutual) certification on the APX7000XE fire radios. FM certification was discontinued as of December 2020 so any radios sent into the depot for repair will come back uncertified. Further, FM certified batteries are now in short supply. A short discussion ensued on the implications and options associated with the discontinuation of FM certification on both the radios and batteries.
Chief Herron questioned the idea of going to a different vendor and whether this would be considered because of ADP encryption. Member Baarman confirmed ADP is proprietary to Motorola. Ms. Zerwin said that doesn’t mean other systems can’t be evaluated.
The group was provided with a list of agencies outside of DEDIRS who have requested and been provided access to the system. Member Baarman said AES256 is the federal recommendation and the overwhelming majority of agencies are on AES256. He thinks ADP should be kept to make it easier issuing new radios and switching encryption. Chairman Hayden remarked positively towards the information Member Baarman has identified regarding encryption options. Another issue would be communication between Police and Fire. Member Baarman stressed the importance of discussing which talkgroups need to be encrypted. He said Fire wants to hear the dispatch channel, so encryption would have to be provided to fire radios. Chairman Hayden said this is not a decision that will be made today, but it is open for discussion. Ms. Zerwin said a lot of things need to be considered before decisions are made. She said the impact on outside agencies and their ability to connect needs to be evaluated.
There was a short discussion on outside agencies requesting access through the patching of the InterOps 1-8 if a channel is encrypted.
Chief Schar asked Member Baarman to address where the APXNext is in its current life cycle. Member Baarman said the radio came out in late 2019. Motorola typically gives a 10-year life expectation. There is currently no end of life date.
Deputy Chief Connolly inquired if there was a way to take existing radios and upgrade them to AES. Member Baarman replied, the feature could be purchased per radio, but the encryption flash code would have to be installed on any existing radios. Deputy Chief Connolly said even though there would be some legacy radios in the system, some that agencies might want to encrypt, this is technically possible and could lead to AES across the board. Member Baarman confirmed that was correct.
Deputy Chief Connolly said the NFPA has a new standard for firefighter radios. Motorola has not come out yet with a timeframe to meet the standard. Harris should be coming out with a radio that is compliant, but the mic will not be compliant. He said, this is one more thing to factor in on a fire radio purchase. He wondered if the APX Next will meet that standard before a decision is made.
Ms. Zerwin said one thing to consider in encryption is if Fire wants to monitor Police Main. Currently not all Fire personnel have a portable. She questioned if it would be the Boards’ preference to correct the disbursement on the Fire side to a mobile in every piece of apparatus and one per firefighter, which will allow for a different encryption discussion. She said if everyone has a portable, there would be no reason to patch. She said Fire would still have a VHF radio, so that during mutual aid, they can switch over. She said this is the first thing that had to be decided by consensus, and would help everything flow. She continued by asking for direction for technical staff to make recommendations if Fire personnel all had radios. Are the Members in agreement to one radio per firefighter and one radio per piece of apparatus? Chairman Hayden concurred. Member Kramer was in favor of providing one per each. A discussion ensued on how many radios Fire would require.
7. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
8. NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
9. NEXT MEETING:
A. Monday, June 7 at 9:00am in Room 3-500B/Virtual
A Special Call meeting was scheduled for Monday, May 17 at 9:00am in Room 3- 500B/Virtual.
Chairman Hayden suggested the PAC invite Kevin Simpson, retired law enforcement and now chairman of school security administration for the Hinsdale High Schools, to the next meeting. Ms. Zerwin said she would invite him.
10. ADJOURNMENT
Member Kramer made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Member Baarman. The meeting of the PAC was adjourned at 9:44am.
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