DuPage County Emergency Telephone System Board Ad Hoc Finance Committee met Dec. 20.
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 9:01 AM.
2. ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Hayden, Dina, Herron, Hurd, Johl
ABSENT: Baarman
Attendees:
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
Lisa Smith, State's Attorney's Office
Mark Borkovec, Westchester PD (Remote)
Jim Connolly, Westmont Fire (Remote)
Eric Fors, Hanover Park Fire (Remote)
John Lozar, DU-COMM
Bob Murr, College of DuPage (Remote)
Kurt Vavra, Glen Ellyn PD (Remote)
On roll call, Chairman Hayden, Vice Chair Dina, 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 - Regular Meeting - Dec 6, 2021 9:00 AM
A motion was made by Member Herron, seconded by Member Johl, to forward the minutes from the November 1, 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, Dina, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Baarman |
A. DEDIRS Access Request
A. ETS-R-0006-22 Resolution to adopt the talkgroup access agreement between the Emergency Telephone System Board of DuPage County and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. Recommendation to approve Policy Advisory Committee VOTE (to approve): 5 Ayes, 0 Nays, 1 Absent. PENDING PARENT COMMITTEE APPROVAL (ETSB)
Ms. Zerwin stated they were approving the talkgroups. The agreement was reviewed by the State's Attorney's Office and had a few revisions which were agreed upon. The PAC would be recommending approval of the talkgroups.
A motion was made by Member Herron to recommend approval of the talkgroups to the ETS Board, seconded by Member Johl. On voice vote, motion carried.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steve Herron, DU-COMM Police Rep SECONDER: Pat Johl, ACDC Fire Rep AYES: Hayden, Dina, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Baarman |
Member Herron asked if Hillside and Westchester were requesting access for just the InterOps 1-8, not any municipalities main talkgroups for interoperability. Ms. Zerwin explained how the idea InterOps talk groups began in Will County for infrequent users. She used Metra as an example. Metra did not want every talkgroup because they have multiple systems that they are working with which makes finding a seldom used, specific talkgroup is difficult with so many. Using the InerOp channels allows the outside agency to be patched through the more quickly and accurately which is easier when on the move. There was a recommendation at the previous meeting to give Aurora more talkgroups. Vice Chair Dina spoke with them and confirmed that Aurora did not want them. Agencies would like interoperability at a comfortable level.
Member Johl asked how easy is it to use the InterOps channels, to patch an agency, could any TC do it. Member Hurd replied, yes, very easy just a few clicks.
Member Herron asked, when agencies apply, they can apply for 1-8 or they can apply for more. Ms. Zerwin stated that based on their relationship with DEDIRS users, they could apply for additional talk groups. She added that the PSAPs also make recommendations and/or review those requests for appropriateness. . The application is reviewed by the point of contact for each agency in DEDRIS and recommendations are made based on discussion. Ms. Kraus added that Hillside and Westchester had requested access to Elmhurst and Oakbrook Terrace, talkgroup 3EAST, which was included on the 14-day review sent to agencies.
Member Herron asked if they were aware DuPage is moving to encryption. Ms. Zerwin said that was the next discussion for the PAC, that agencies would be advised and by the end of 2022, encryption should be in place. Member Dina clarified that agencies could request access for more talkgroups if they wanted. Ms. Zerwin confirmed, yes. PAC has received modification requests in the past.
A motion was made by Member Johl to recommend approval of the talkgroups to the ETS Board, seconded by Member Herron. On voice vote, motion carried.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Pat Johl, ACDC Fire Rep SECONDER: Steve Herron, DU-COMM Police Rep AYES: Hayden, Dina, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Baarman |
Similar to the previous request, Westchester was requesting access to InterOps 1-8 and 3EAST.
A motion was made by Member Herron to recommend approval of the talkgroups to the ETS Board, seconded by Member Johl. On voice vote, motion carried.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Steve Herron, DU-COMM Police Rep SECONDER: Pat Johl, ACDC Fire Rep AYES: Hayden, Dina, Herron, Hurd, Johl ABSENT: Baarman |
1. Talkgroups Discussion continued
Mr. Lozar summarized the information from his presentation from the last meeting and added the results from his search in Genesis. The purpose of this exercise was to determine talk group with no activity that could be eliminated or renamed based on changes recommended to the code plugs and templates for the new radios. He presented slides showing his data from an 11-month search of talkgroups with usage zero seconds,
there were 14, then of 1 minute or less and found another 18. He pulled out the Statewides are other groups that will be kept. To get to 36 talkgroups, he went one tier further and found four (4) with 10 minutes or less usage during those 11 months. He reviewed the potential options of keeping FD OPs 1-7 and additionaltalkgroups and their naming conventions. His question was where to go with this data and what to consider for fire talkgroups.
Vice Chair Dina said that after the last Ops meeting, he was contacted by a fire chief who thought 36 FD OPs channels, especially named after the agencies, might be cumbersome, and he agreed. He suggested looking for a happy medium to the increase and looked to Mr. Lozar for his recommendation. Today, there are seven (7) STARCOM FD channels and seven (7) VHF operational or tactical channels to utilize. Many chiefs have found they like the STARCOM channels because they can be recorded and monitored, not that they have to be, and they work better in large buildings, especially those with bi directional antennas (BDAs). Firegrounds channels do not.
Member Johl said a bank of channels is 16, maybe the number could be brought down to 16 or 14 with assignments to a primary ops and a secondary. He talked about sharing these channels with outside agencies for interoperability. Vice Chair Dina said if they were not searching for an agency name that might be much easier and added that Member Johl's recommendation of 14 with the 7 VHF would bring the total to 21 tactical channels to choose from. Discussion ensued on the channels which would be used in various situations and the talkgroup numbers that might work operationally. Member Herron asked how many fire departments/districts there are in DuPage. Mr. Lozar answered 29. With 14 channels, it would be approximately one per two agencies. Discussion ensued around major weather incidents and their effect on the talkgroup utilization, and that doubling should be provide plenty of availability.
Member Herron questioned that with fire now embracing STARCOM, would this be enough channels for them to build over the next ten years. It was agreed that 14 may become problematic as fire starts getting used to using the STARCOM system. Member Herron continued asking if it would be better to have more during this build as opposed to having the re-build the template in a year and a half. The question became, is 14 not enough and is 36 too cumbersome, where is the happy medium.
Ms. Zerwin discussed coverage and if what they are using today is working, is this about providing better in building coverage in STARCOM. Member Johl talked about the advantages of monitoring and recording of the channels as performance improvement in addition to coverage. Ms. Zerwin said if their intent was to record all these channels, that would require different equipment for capacity and the ability to record, which made this a good time to have this discussion with equipment refresh and expansions coming up. She also used Hanover Park as an example of a busier agency as a one off as opposed to doubling up for every agency. That during inclement weather, there were also local talkgroups which would bring the number up to 50 on STARCOM. This led to a short discussion of local channel usage during weather events and how difference agencies utilize their talkgroups for police and fire and examples of when this has been problematic.
The discussion circled back to a recommendation. Mr. Lozar continued his presentation of the Father's Day tornado within Genesis and that he found one busy in FIRE OPS4 for four tenths of a second from 9:30pm to midnight. His point was that it would be difficult to estimate how busy the system will be based on future talkgroup usage. He talked about Motorola's model to fit within the criteria for busies, but when the model is changed, there's no way to estimate what the activity will be. It becomes a question of what they are comfortable with. Ms. Zerwin stated they also do not have good data on, in theory, that everything on the system should be TDMA which allows them more frequency usage. The Members talked about the capacity level for busies, the activity level of the groups, which is how many concurrent users are on at the same time. Member Herron said that theoretically it wouldn't matter how many talkgroups there are, but how many users are on concurrently. Mr. Lozar wanted to make sure they understood that with the move to TDMA on the fire side, that busies would not be eliminated, there is always the potential for busies but that the number would be reduced.
There was further discussion of TDMA and what the fire side was willing to give up towards the revised talkgroups under discussion. The consensus was to add seven (7) additional channels to the seven (7) fire has today.
Mr. Lozar passed out the talkgroup priority list from Motorola. Ms. Zerwin said that Motorola asked the descriptions for each priority not to be publicly discussed or displayed for security purposes. Mr. Lozar asked Motorola to run a report which showed the majority of the talkgroups fall under Priority 3 with normal operations, locals and Public Works fall under Priority 4, and Statewides under Priority 5.
Ms. Zerwin announced the APX4000 radios were being delivered that day and that Motorola had indicated the labs were opening. The timeline for the APXNextXN radios would hopefully be moved up, but no specific quarter could be provided. Vice Chair Dina said that was great news. Ms. Zerwin added when the radios are shipped, the serial numbers are entered automatically into the new radio manager software system, RadioCentral, which is one step ahead in programming.
8. DEDIRS POLICIES
Member Herron discussed the policies and questions that came up during the review.
911-005.2 - This item was discussed earlier in the meeting in regard to the InterOps 1-8 agencies couldrequest in addition to other talkgroups for interoperability.
911-005.3 - How will programming of the radios be handled and who will have the “programming key” will there be only one “person” or will each PSAP be allowed to program their radios. Member Johl added, per Mr. Sullivan's explanation, who would control and be authorized to change and use the encryption keys, based on who is requesting the change. Ms.
Zerwin explained the initial programming would be handled by Motorola as part of the contract. Motorola is looking to provide radios to the PAC Members in January. A Service Manager will be provided for the next three years, and more answers will be forthcoming as programming happens. She continued, in STARCOM in general, no one including vendors should program into a DEDIRS talkgroup from an outside agency without authorization or permission. She said there is policy at the State level that prohibits that. In the example of an emergency , the answer was unknown until the specifics of the Services Managers hours and responsibilities is known. Today, the PSAPs can immediately contact the NOC and a radio can be taken out of service if it is on a DEDIRS talk group without authorization. The reprogramming of the new radios will require more information about the process. Ms. Zerwin also stated that ETSB would maintain the radio maintainer relationship with DU-COMM through the next year during implementation and for maintenance of the APX7000s.
911-005.4 - How will Over The Air (OTA) be handled, LTE or Wi-Fi through PSAP networks. The answerof how this will be handled was unknown and Ms. Zerwin made a note to provide an answer. Member Herron said they had heard there are multiple ways of providing over the air programming.
900-005.5 - There was no discussion on this item as an agreement had been reached during review.
911-005.6 - Member Herron said they like to see if representatives from both ACDC and DU COMM could meet to discuss how they handle the “emergency button” activation for both police and fire. He believed the centers handle them differently and would like the Directors or representatives’ assistance to determine a universal policy. Ms. Zerwin asked Member Hurd if he could talk to Ms. Lamela, the DU- COMM Deputy Director of Operations, regarding this item.
Member Herron said these are the items, excluding 911-005.2 as this policy had been discussed, requiring direction before the policies could be moved forward.
9. OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
10. NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.
11. NEXT MEETING:
A. Monday, January 3 at 9:00am in Room 3-500B
12. ADJOURNMENT
Member Johl made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:47am, seconded by Vice Chair Dina. On voice vote, motion carried.
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