DuPage County Emergency Telephone System Board - Policy Advisory Committee met Nov. 1.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. CALL TO ORDER
9:00 AM meeting was called to order by Chair Timothy Hayden at 9:00 AM.
2. ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Hayden, Baarman, Herron, Hurd, Johl
ABSENT: Dina
Director Linda Zerwin, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board, non-voting Member
Eve Kraus, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board
Matt Theusch, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board
Andy Dina, Warrenville Fire (Remote)
Pat Brenn, Tri-State Fire (Remote)
Rich Cassady, Glenside Fire (Remote)
Jim Connolly, Westmont Fire (Remote)
Steve Demas, Lisle-Woodridge Fire (Remote)
Colin Fleury, West Chicago PD (Remote)
Tom Gallahue, ILEAS (Remote)
Dave Gnadt, Roselle Fire (Remote)
Michael Guttman, City of West Chicago (Remote)
John Lozar, DU-COMM
Bob Murr, College of DuPage (Remote)
Jason Norton, Darien PD (Remote)
Jeff Runge, Villa Park PD (Remote)
Richard Sanborn, York Center Fire (Remote)
David Schar, Winfield PD (Remote)
Patrick Tanner, West Chicago Fire (Remote)
Delores Temes, ACDC (Remote)
Andrea Lieberenz, Addison PD (Remote)
On roll call, Chairman Hayden, Member Baarman, Member Herron, Member Hurd, and Member Johl 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. ETSB - Policy Advisory Committee - Special Call - Oct 5, 2021 9:00 AM
A motion was made by Member Herron, seconded by Member Johl, to forward the minutes from the October 5, 2021 meeting to the ETS Board to receive and place on file. On voice vote, motion carried.
| RESULT: RECEIVE AND PLACE ON FILE [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steve Herron, DU-COMM Police Rep SECONDER: Pat Johl, ACDC Fire Rep AYES: Hayden, Baarman, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Dina |
1. 20-21-71 DEDIRS Monthly Maintainer Report
Member Baarman provided a review of the monthly maintainer report. He advised that for some of the agencies that don’t want to travel far or make multiple trips for repairs, the maintainers are doing parts replacements while the agency waits. Member Baarman said they are trying to get clarification on which radio models are upgradeable to AES256. He said research was previously done on the APX6000 - the AN version versus BN version. In last month’s report, they stated the AN was not upgradeable, but Motorola says it is. Some of the confusion was because a lot of radios have a firmware flashcode that allows it to be upgradeable, but Motorola stopped selling it at a certain time, at least a quarter before the end-of-life announcement. Member Baarman said a table was put into the report that gives those details, with the expected end of life, if it has been announced. He said the APX7000 UHF is end of life, so there is no upgrade. Member Baarman said the one surprise is the APX 7500; the mobile is upgradeable, but the end-of-life date is next year, so the kit would have to be purchased by June to upgrade to the AES256. Member Baarman mentioned that the stats for the month were normal. Member Herron asked if the APX6500s are upgradeable. Mr. Lozar replied they are still current and upgradeable. Member Herron questioned that the June 2022 date is only for the APX7500s. Member Baarman said every model has a different date and referred back to the table included in the report.
A motion was made by Member Herron, seconded by Member Johl, to forward the report to the ETS Board to receive and place on file. On voice vote, motion carried.
| RESULT: ACCEPTED AND PLACED ON FILE [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steve Herron, DU-COMM Police Rep SECONDER: Pat Johl, ACDC Fire Rep AYES: Hayden, Baarman, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Dina |
A. DEDIRS Access Request
A. ETS-R-0066-21 Resolution to approve access to the DuPage Emergency Dispatch Interoperable Radio System talk groups pursuant to Policy 911-005.2: Access to the DuPage Emergency Dispatch Ineroperable Radios System (DEDIRS), as requested by the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS). Recommendation to approve Policy Advisory Committee VOTE (to approve): 6 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Absent
Chairman Hayden said the 14-day notification for this request will end on November 8, 2021, and as far as he knows, there have been no objections to this request.
Member Herron made a motion to approve the request, pending a 14-day completion, seconded by Member Baarman. On voice vote, motion carried.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steve Herron, DU-COMM Police Rep SECONDER: Matt Baarman, DU-COMM PSAP Rep AYES: Hayden, Baarman, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Dina |
A. Update
Ms. Zerwin said there are two fire agencies that haven’t reported their information as of this morning, but she has contacted them There are 9 police agencies that want to make some adjustments. She said there are 1479 APXNext radios on the Police side, and approximately 1083 on the Fire side. There were a lot of agencies that decided on riding positions, but very few who went all in. She said all in all, it is going pretty well, and she will reach out to those agencies today and will meet with Motorola this afternoon. The goal is to get a contract before November. Ms. Zerwin also said in doing a deeper review of the costing of the APX4000, she found it is not a bundle package. The bundle, which includes encryption, 2 batteries, and a single charger, is approximately $1,800.00, which will be more cost effective; it is the better deal because of encryption.
Ms. Zerwin asked for discussion from the PAC regarding APX8000XE radios and cache radios. She provided a list of APX8000XEs; there are approximately 53 in the system currently. The APX8000XE model radios are five years old or less; many have just gone into service on the Fire side in the last few months. After the last purchase, ETSB had a cache of 122 radios: approximately 75 on each side. Ms. Zerwin questioned in terms of cache, if an agency wants an APXNextXN, should the PAC replace a brand new 8000XE with a Next. All of the XEs could then be asset transferred into the cache, which means ETSB would not have to do a lot of extra purchasing to round out the cache. Member Johl questioned how much each agency would be out for each agency-owned radio. He believed if an agency could get a replacement covered by the ETS Board, the cost could be worked out. He is not sure if the ETS Board would have to purchase new radios for the agency or how that would work. Ms. Zerwin said ETSB is covering all agencies’ airtime right now. The Board said if an agency will pay the expense of the radio, the Board will cover the airtime; it would just be the value of the radio but that would depend on the FCC guidelines. Member Herron asked if Ms. Zerwin could describe the purpose of the cache radios. He said if he has a surge need or an event, he gets a set of radios, which are separate. He asked if a spare replaces a radio if it is destroyed. Ms. Zerwin said they have done dual duty. Member Herron said there certainly needs to be spares in place in the event something happens. Member Johl said the only issue with using the 8000XE is they will require different chargers and batteries than the new fire radio. Once the change is made over to the new radios, all the battery chargers will change to accommodate the new batteries. Therefore, there will need to be a supply of charging equipment and batteries with the cache radios.
Member Herron asked about the timeline for the APXNext radios. Everyone agreed that no one knows because of the shortages going on in the world today. Member Johl asked Mr. Lozar if the 8000XEs are upgradeable to be encrypted. Mr. Lozar said it is an option. Ms. Zerwin said the other option if an agency has a brand-new radio, is that they can keep the XE and it would not be replaced with a Next. Ms. Zerwin said she will have to explain to the ETS Board why we are replacing 8000XEs, as they are not end-of-life or end-of support, and 30-40 of them are brand new on the system. Member Herron said the DuPage Chiefs discussed what radio model to get for CSOs. Some agencies have decided they want to upgrade the radio at a cost to their agency to ensure all personnel utilize the same radios. Member Herron stated that for the surge events that happen a few times a year, the 4000 would be an appropriate radio or if a radio is destroyed for whatever reason, it would be appropriate until a replacement is received.
Member Johl said he doesn’t think leaving the 8000XEs in service frontline for anyone is a good option; everyone should be on the same radio. Member Johl recommends keeping the 8000XEs as cache-only radios, for the Fire side at least.
Chief Schar requested to comment through Zoom and said, as a member of the ETS Board, he would like to say something for the PAC Members’ consideration. He understands any agency, Police or Fire, who bought an 8000 radio on their own in the last couple of years would not want to get rid of them. He advised this purchase is being made with taxpayers’ dollars. He agrees the 8000s should probably go into a cache, however; he doesn’t know if it’s appropriate for the ETS Board to approve giving anyone radios free of charge and then paying them for the old radios they chose to purchase. Chief Schar said it would be appropriate to formulate an MOU with those agencies that in order to get the APXNext, they would turn their 8000s in, so the ETS Board can use them as part of their cache. Chairman Hayden replied, essentially, an agency would be receiving an upgrade at no cost. Chief Schar said he believes that is appropriate and is a proper use of taxpayer money.
Member Herron questioned if a fire inspector, for example, is not covered under the first responder ruling, would be given a new radio in exchange for a radio that is not covered under the FCC rule. Member Johl said he is not sure, he cannot speak for what positions the agencies requested new radios for. Member Herron said Chief Schar has a good point, and he agrees they need to be moved off the front line and put into a spare or cache system. Ms. Zerwin said there are 53 agency purchased 8000XNs, if the cache number was rounded up to 60 and 7 XNs that would solve some of the concern that we have a radio that could immediately go into service, barring a large incident. Mr. Lozar said the Police side has 49 in the cache now, and sometimes in the summer there are many departments looking for radios, and the maintainers have had to adjust. Mr. Lozar recommends 70 or 75, and confirmed they will be programmed with the full agency template. Ms. Zerwin questioned if the recommendation is that cache radios be 4000s or Nexts, that some would need to be Nexts. Chairman Hayden asked Member Herron who is using the radios. Member Herron said volunteers, Explorers, Public Works, etc. With the new radios having encryption, there would be some common channels with outside Counties and an agency then would not need as many extra radios. Chairman Hayden asked if the 4000 operates the same way as the Next. Member Baarman answered there are physical differences but confirmed internally they have access to the same radio resources. Chairman Hayden said if a Next radio gets damaged, we are going to need a cache to replace it as soon as possible. Ms. Zerwin said if the XEs are being used as part of the cache, on a similar pattern, there are 53 4000s and 17 Next radios, so there is a replacement or spare if an officer needs one. Chairman Hayden asked how many have been replaced in the last 10 years. Mr. Lozar said approximately 10. It was agreed the radios are rugged and have held up well. Member Herron said a decision was made when DuPage first began using these radios, that rather than extending coverage on some of them, it was more reasonable to buy more radios, to be able to replace them as needed. He questioned if it would be more valuable to look at more radios and not get the extended coverage as these radios are very rugged. Ms. Zerwin said if the maintainers cannot fix a radio, or it is a Fire hermetically sealed radio, it goes to depot and the charges are covered. If it’s an expense, depending on the age of the radio and the damage done, the deductible will be $1,000.00 and will be paid by the agency.
There was a brief discussion of the range of cache radios models for the Police side and the NFPA regulated Fire side and cross usage. Ms. Zerwin said she wanted to get an idea from this conversation about usage, and she believed she has enough information to figure out what will be done for a cache if all agree that having a 4000 deployed for cache events will be okay. Member Herron confirmed he didn’t believe a Next radio would be necessary for an event a couple times a year.
B. Policies
Ms. Zerwin said the PAC was given binders of the hard copies of the current policies. Everyone has been provided with Microsoft Word documents of Policies 5.4, 5.6, and 5.8. For ETS Board purposes, these all have forms today that are used when exchanging radios and implementation. Ms. Zerwin said she is asking that the PAC start the discussion on these policies, and those are the first three that she picked. Terminology and definitions can be filled in as they go. Ms. Zerwin explained that 5.4 is Unit Programing and Use of Talk Groups which will come up in their next discussion; 5.6 is the Emergency Button and deals with training; 5.8 is TDMA Compliance, Authorized Subscriber Units, and Accessories. In this one, the Board pulled back supplying the consumable parts of the radios, as they were being kept longer. The PAC should probably think about having the agencies cover consumable parts going forward. 5.2 Access to DEDIRS will change because of the move to encryption. ETSB will start notifying agencies who have access today where the PAC is going in terms of encryption.
Ms. Zerwin said PAC Members should make recommendations and changes on the Word document to discuss at the next meeting. Member Herron said Member Baarman and Mr. Lozar will have to put some input into some of these, but for the most part, they are straight forward but out of date and mostly need to be updated and rephrased. Chairman Hayden asked Member Herron if he wanted to take a stab at it. Member Herron said he is busy coming up but could certainly take a run at them. He continued saying they could start with 5.4 and 5.6 were the most outdated, and 5.8 he was not sure he would not have time to look at before the next meeting. Ms. Zerwin said there are certain policies that have a form that should be updated, and the easiest time to do that is when exchanging radios while collecting them all back and while training on the new radios.
C. Templates
Ms. Zerwin said this is a discussion about what PAC wants changed. With Wi-Fi, the touch restriction is lessened. Development of the templates is a maintainer issue based on what Police and Fire want to do this time around. Member Baarmann and Mr. Lozar may have some recommendations based on what they know today. Ms. Zerwin advised that this is more urgent and needs to be ready for programming. Member Herron asked about the Wi-Fi connection. Mr. Lozar said the radio would connect to the Wi-Fi network within your station. Through the Radio Manager program, a template would then be developed and pushed out to that location. Member Baarman said there will be some work to be done to get everything set up as Radio Manager is not configured today. There was a brief discussion about connecting to an agency’s network and CJIS compliancy. Further, Member Baarman stated that security keys cannot be programmed over Wi-Fi, just because the option is there, does not mean all the features will be deployed day 1.
The PAC discussed how long it would take to update the policies and where discussions have led, such as moving from a VHF fireground to a talk group and how this would affect border towns and the number of talk groups available. Ms. Zerwin said some of the policies cannot be updated until it is known what will be done with the templates. The policy, such as 5.4, will reflect what the recommendation on the template is. Member Herron believed that policy would take a substantial amount of work and months to come to an understanding of how that would work operationally. Member Baarman addressed the concern about CJIS saying Motorola proposed a hotspot that would come out to the stations so the radios would not be connecting to the agency network but, Ms. Zerwin believed, a closed Motorola STARCOM network. The radios would need to be programmed to see that hotspot and connect. Member Baarman conveyed that just because a radio comes with the ability to connect does not mean there isn’t setup and programming to be done. Member Herron said the PAC would control the policy and procedure, but that outside agencies wanting to connect would do so at their own cost. Ms. Zerwin said that since Member Baarman and Mr. Lozar have excellent historical knowledge on where we’ve been, the PAC should allow them to propose the cleanest way to do this. Things are a lot different today, and they probably have some excellent recommendations on how this could be better and let them run with it, or at least create a baseline to consider. There are Next radios in house so they can look at formatting and how things will lay out. Agencies will have recommendations, but these are the people who are touching them all day long and can create a baseline. Member Herron joked and said as long as their techno-speak can be converted into written policy language. He continued saying over the last three touches, they have said you will do it this way because they have to standardize the process. Member Baarman said each time has gotten better. Ms. Zerwin suggested PSAP Ops meeting can gather information because it operationally affects them as well. Policy 5.4 will evolve based on templates. Policy 5.6 is the emergency button, which just needs to be updated based on how it operates, which leaves 5.8 on TDMA. The PAC can look at recommendations and language cleanup for 5.6 and 5.8 in a month.
8. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
9. NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
10. NEXT MEETING:
A. Monday, November 15 at 9:00am in Room 3-500B
It was discussed that if there was only one upcoming agenda item, the November 15 meeting would be canceled, making the next meeting December 6.
11. ADJOURNMENT
Member Herron made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:51am, seconded by Member Johl. On voice vote, motion carried.
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