Dupage Policy Journal

DuPage County ETSB - Emergency Telephone System Board met Sept. 11.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

1. CALL TO ORDER 

8:15 AM meeting was called to order by Chairman Hayden at 8:15 AM.

2. ROLL CALL 

Attendees:

Director Linda Zerwin, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board, non-voting Member 

Matt Theusch, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board

Gregg Taormina, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board

Eve Kraus, DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board

Nick Kottmeyer, DuPage County Board Office

John Sullivan, Addison Fire

Kurt Bluder, Hinsdale High School District 86 (Remote)

Jim Connolly, Village of Addison (Remote)

Tom Gallahue, ILEAS (Remote)

Michael Hylton, Oakbrook Terrace PD (Remote)

Jimmy Lahanis, Darien-Woodridge Fire (Remote)

Bob Murr, College of DuPage (Remote)

Bill Srejma, ACDC (Remote)

Andrea Lieberenz, Addison PD, Secretary (Remote)

On roll call, Members Hayden, Baarman, Hermes, Johl, and Rivas were present, which constituted a quorum.

PRESENT Hayden, Baarman, Hermes, Johl, and Rivas

ABSENT Dina

3. CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS - CHAIR HAYDEN 

Chairman Hayden said 22 years ago today was one of the most destructive terrorist acts in our country. He asked for a brief moment of silence.

4. PUBLIC COMMENT 

There was no public comment.

5. CONSENT ITEMS 

5.A. 23-2972 

ETSB Policy Advisory Committee Minutes - Regular Meeting - Monday, August 7, 2023

A motion was made by Member Rivas, seconded by Member Johl, to forward the minutes from the August 7, 2023 meeting to the ETS Board to receive and place on file. On voice vote, all “Ayes”, motion carried.

RESULT: ETSB RECEIVED AND PLACED ON FILE

MOVER: Michael Rivas

SECONDER: Pat Johl

5.B. 23-2991 

DEDIRS July Maintainer Report

All Members had received and reviewed the Radio Maintainer Report.

A motion was made by Member Johl, seconded by Member Rivas, to forward the report to the ETS Board to receive and place on file. On voice vote, all “Ayes”, motion carried.

RESULT: ACCEPTED AND PLACED ON FILE

MOVER: Pat Johl

SECONDER: Michael Rivas

5.C. 23-2990 

DEDIRS August Maintainer Report

All Members had received and reviewed the Radio Maintainer Report.

A motion was made by Member Johl, seconded by Member Hermes, to forward the report to the ETS Board to receive and place on file. On voice vote, all “Ayes”, motion carried.

RESULT: ACCEPTED AND PLACED ON FILE

MOVER: Pat Johl

SECONDER: Sherianne Hermes

6. PARENT COMMITTEE APPROVAL REQUIRED 

6.A. ETS-R-0038-23 

Resolution to Amend Policy 911-005.2: Access to the DuPage Emergency Dispatch Interoperable Radio System (DEDIRS).

Member Johl made a motion to discuss, seconded by Member Rivas.

Ms. Zerwin said the only open piece in the policy is encryption. Member Rivas said the DuPage Chiefs were asked what additional agencies wanted to be added, and he received the following suggestions: Metra, Schaumburg PD, Elk Grove PD, Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook, ISP helicopter, and Northlake/Hillside. He said there will be many more and he suggested adding additional agencies to the DEDIR System as they request to be added. He said Metra was the only one who suggested themselves; other DEDIRS agencies suggested the other agencies.

A spreadsheet of the proposed Police templates was shared onscreen. Mr. Connolly said he, John Nebl, and Member Baarman have the privilege of working with both the Police and Fire Focus Groups, and that gives them an advantage to see any discrepancies or missing items. He said the spreadsheet shows three columns; the first column shows the standard template in all police radios, the next column shows the proposed changes from about a year ago provided by Chief Herron, and the last column shows what he (Mr. Connolly), Mr. Nebl, and Member Baarman see as discrepancies or things that might need to be added. Mr. Connolly said it is consistent with the last report that Member Rivas provided, which is moving to the standardized PD ops across all talk groups with one assigned by PD talk group, including a spare talk group for ACDC which already exists, and a spare Police talk group for DU-COMM. That would total 15 police talk groups - 10 at DU-COMM and 5 at ACDC, with a PD ops channel assigned to each.

Mr. Connolly said the thought on encryption is that Fire would have access to the PD dispatch groups and the main PD ops talk groups, as many agencies move their operations to these when there is a significant event. In addition to the 15 talk groups, there would be two joint secure ops to be used by Police and Fire, which could be used during a rescue task force operation. There would be another seven PD ops that would be encrypted to Police only. Mr. Connolly said there would be five dedicated talk groups for MERIT, as previously discussed.

Mr. Connolly reviewed the columns in the spreadsheet. One column showed the currently named PD dispatch talk groups, except Channel 15, which is temporarily named DU-COMMPD and is the spare DU-COMM Police talk group to be used for any agency or however they choose to use it. He said the rest are similar to what is in the radio today. Mr. Connolly said given the increase in the Police dispatch talk groups, they had to find a place to put court, jail and OHSEM, which are in the DuPage interop talk group list. He said he believes that the NIPAS talk group is going away. Mr. Connolly said there were no changes in the locals, although they were put in alphabetical order. He said State Police made a lot of changes in their naming conventions, and they have been included in the proposed Fire template and have been included the same way in the Police template. He continued down the spreadsheet saying there were no changes for Elgin. DuPage Fire incorporates the proposed new numbering system for Fire, with the transition for ACDC taking place now, and DU-COMM at a time to be determined. He said the joint secure ops and Fire ops talk groups have increased; originally there were seven and now there are 14 pre-assigned. Mr. Connolly pointed out there are two full zones of Northwest Central Fire in the police template, but Northwest Central Police are not in there. He said in speaking with Northwest Central, they were cooperative and agreeable to a proposal to put in the Police talk groups and eliminate or minimize the Fire talk groups. Mr. Connolly was unsure why there were so many Fire talk groups but that if Police want them, they could have them. Chairman Hayden asked Member Hermes if she knew the answer, but she did not. Mr. Connolly speculated that perhaps former Member Herron had wanted the NWC Fire talk groups. Member Baarman said those were the only channels that were not encrypted that NWC could give; the channels were in the template as a last-ditch place to go to talk to someone in the NWC world, but they were not ever used for police operations. Mr. Connolly thanked Member Baarman saying that made sense and once DuPage moves to AES and TDMA, the world would open up for the Police talk groups.

Mr. Connolly continued his review of the spreadsheet. He spoke about the 800 backups for DU-COMM and ACDC and said they could be standardized and ordered in any way. Glendale Heights and Westmont have 800 community channels or public works, and they have moved those to a separate miscellaneous zone. He said there were originally eight interops, but Mr. Nebl recommended to put DU in the interop name to clarify the difference between a DuPage interop and a Cook County interop. These channels would be maintained as four for ACDC and four for DU-COMM with a ninth channel added for DUCALL, or point to point channel, per the consensus from both focus groups. He said the current recommendation was that half of the interops would be encrypted and half not, and not pre-assigned to Police or Fire to give the PSAPs flexibility. Mr. Connolly said Cook County has 10 interops. There are three Cook County talk groups used by agencies bordering DuPage County. Mr. Connolly concluded his presentation with a review of the outside talk groups from LTACC, Laraway, and Grundy County, as suggested by those agencies.

Mr. Connolly said the only thing that is not on the spreadsheet is SWIT/ITTF, and they will most likely mimic what was done for Fire until ITTF goes away in a few years.

Chairman Hayden said we are proceeding with encryption for Law enforcement which will help the Fire side figure out what they are programming.

Member Johl made a motion to table the policy until the next meeting, seconded by Member Rivas. On voice vote, motion carried.

RESULT: TABLED

MOVER: Pat Johl

SECONDER: Michael Rivas

6.B. ETS-R-0045-23 

Resolution to amend Policy 911-005.10: Metropolitan Emergency Response and Investigation Team Designated Talk Groups.

Ms. Zerwin reviewed the redline changes to the policy which had previously been provided to the Members. She said all of the changes were submitted by MERIT and were reviewed by the State’s Attorney’s Office. She asked if any Members had changes, to which there were none.

Member Johl made a motion to recommend approval to the ETS Board, seconded by Member Hermes. On voice vote, all “Ayes”, motion carried.

RESULT: ETSB RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL

MOVER: Pat Johl

SECONDER: Michael Rivas

7. DEDIRS PORTABLE AND MOBILE REPLACEMENT 

7.A. Police 

Member Rivas had nothing to report.

7.B. Fire 

Member Johl advised the Fire Focus Group is still meeting and continues to work with Motorola on exploring changes to programming.

8. OLD BUSINESS 

There was no old business.

9. NEW BUSINESS 

Member Rivas said the Police Focus Group would like to add more members. He advised Darien Police Sergeant Mike Loren, Lombard Police Deputy Chief Joe Grage, and Addison Police Deputy Chief Roy Selvik will be joining the Police Focus Group. He said they are going to meet shortly after the conclusion of the PAC meeting.

10. ADJOURNMENT 

10.A. Next Meeting: Monday, October 2 at 8:15am in Room 3-500A 

Member Johl made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:42am, seconded by Member Hermes. On voice vote, motion carried.

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