Rock Island Today

Rock Island County Emergency Telephone System Board met Jan. 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Beswick, Gault, Landi, Meyers, Ramsey, Seiver, VanKlaveren

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Anderson

OTHERS PRESENT: Matt Franks, Rock Island Police Department; Scott Ryckeghem, Margo Sparbel, Stacy Houzenga, QComm; Darren Hart, Curt Champion, Rock Island County; Summer O'Leary, Moline Police Department; Jason Kratt, East Moline Police Department; Chris Johnson, Milan Police Department; Chelsea Noe, Arsenal; Brian Youngren, RACOM; Tom Helbing, FirstNet; Rich Schipper, Wayne Mooney, Christine Cary, Bi-State Regional Commission

1. Approval of the December 5, 2023 Minutes. Beswick moved that the minutes of the December meeting be approved as presented. Gault seconded, and the motion was approved.

2. Financial Reports. Cary distributed the January Accounts Payable totaling $77,708.04. Gault moved that the January accounts payable be approved for payment. Meyers seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously by roll call vote. The following financial report was presented:

POOL Balance:           $ 2,258,000.00

Checkbook Balance:      $ 176,392.71

TOTAL                         $ 2,434,392.71

Dec '23 Surcharge:        $ 153,827.42

3. PSAP Reports.

a. County - Meyers stated they have 9 full-time TCs, the 10th is currently in training and will be done in a month, the 11th was hired and started yesterday, and the 12th is getting background currently. She stated she was notified that RACOM has completed their part of the G2, and they are testing with the volunteer fire departments on Friday. If all goes well, it will be up and running next week.

b. Rock Island - Franks reported they have 11 full-time TCs, are down one, and have a conditional offer out to another employee. On January 8, the TCs and the City of Rock Island reached an agreement for their union contract to extend, and they will be opening up the hiring process.

c. QComm - Ryckeghem stated they have 23 TCs, 2 in training who should be done the first part of February. Over the weekend with the snowstorm, he reported they had a 62% increase in call volume from the weekend before and calls for service were up 21%. He stated they finished their migration of Coal Valley and Coyne Center to QComm on December 19. County still has Reynolds because they are waiting on paperwork approval from IDPH.

d. Arsenal - Noe stated they currently have 4 fully trained TCs, 2 in training, the 7th starting on the 29 and the 8th starting shortly after. She reported they did one or two QComm switch overs in the last few weeks because of sick time, but nothing currently scheduled.

e. SECC - No report.

4. Secondary PSAP Reports.

a. AMT EMS - No Report.

b. Medic EMS - No Report.

5. Technical Report.

a. Firewall Maintenance - Schipper reported prior to December the Palo Alto firewalls had a certificate issue, where he had to update and reboot all the firewalls. Allowing them to carry internal certificates going forward without interruption. He stated he received communication stating another round of updates needed to be made by April. In the next few weeks, he will be coordinating with sites to make the appropriate updates to the firewalls. He stated this will cause downtime, but he will make it as short as possible.

6. Other Business.

a. Mobile Licenses and DEMS - O'Leary reported that the mobile licenses total $27,065.62. VanKlavern stated that the DEMS offset is $56,600. At the last meeting she was asked to contact CentralSquare and inquire about a refund on the DEMS product, since it was never up and running. She stated the credit would be $56,600 for years four and five. Schipper stated if we use that to offset the cost of the mobile licenses, we would still be left with a credit of $29,534.38. Gault stated he thought ETSB has always covered the cost of the mobile licenses and made a motion for ETSB to pay the $27,065.62 by using the applied credits in the CS Pro contract. VanKlaveren seconded, and the motion was approved by roll call vote. Gault also made a motion to authorize the ETSB Chairman to sign the change order accepting the DEMS credit in the amount of $56,600. Landi seconded, and the motion passed by roll call vote.

b. CentralSquare Contract Renewal - VanKlavern stated since we are approaching years four and five of the CentralSquare contract we should reach out to CentralSquare and ask what the contract is going to look like over the next five years, giving us time to go out for an RFP if we decide to go in a different direction. Gault stated his concern is that we are at a timeline tipping point. He stated it took two years to do an RFP, interview vendors, select and build products, and go live. He reported his other concern is that we have no idea what CentralSquare will charge us for the next contract, and if we don't start the process now, we may be handcuffed with no options. Seiver agreed. VanKlavern stated it was the recommendation of RMS for ETSB to reach out to CentralSquare for a quote since they hold the contract. Seiver stated Christine, Rich, Wayne, and he would start the process. He stated he would hope to have an update at the next meeting.

c. Vacant Board Seat - Gault asked Seiver if there has been talk about replacing Tom Nielsen. Seiver stated they are trying to find a candidate that is preferably fire and lower County.

d. Wireless Traffic Plan - Schipper reported we received an email regarding changes to an existing tower at 1531 17 Ave, Moline, IL. Cary distributed maps of the area that will be routed to QComm. Schipper stated we need two signatures stating we agree with the call routing based on this map and information. The Board concurred that this routing was correct; Seiver and Cary signed the document.

7. Public Comment. There was no public comment.

8. Executive Session. There was no executive session.

9. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 10:19 a.m. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 6, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at the Rock Island Police Department.

https://www.rockislandcountyil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_01162024-961