Rock Island Today

Rock Island County Emergency Telephone System Board met Nov. 5.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

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

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: VanKlaveren

OTHERS PRESENT: Matt Franks, Rock Island Police Department; Curt Champion, Rock Island County Sheriff’s Department; Derek Radosevich, Milan Police Department; Scott Ryckeghem, QComm; Chelsea Noe, Rock Island Arsenal; Paul Andorf, Medic EMS; Stacey Bollinger, Tracey Screechfield, SECC; Brian Youngren, RACOM; Rich Schipper and Christine Cary, Bi-State Regional Commission

1. Approval of the October 1, 2024 Minutes. McCloud moved that the minutes of the October meeting be approved as presented. Beswick seconded, and the motion was approved.

2. Financial Reports. Cary distributed the October Accounts Payable totaling $79,830.70. Gault moved that the November 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: $ 2,977,000.00

Checkbook Balance: $ 196,717.74

TOTAL $ 3,173,717.74

Oct. Surcharge: $ 156,081.17

3. ETSB Officers – Seiver asked for the Board’s consent to name Meyers as Vice Chair. With Meyers moving to Vice Chair, Ramsey volunteered to fill the Secretary position. Seiver asked for a voice vote, which was approved unanimously.

4. Vacant Board Seats – Seiver stated he spoke with Chairman Brunk regarding the two vacant seats. He stated the recommendation was to appoint Terry McMaster and Jason Wolfe to fill the vacant seats.

5. PSAP Reports.

a. County – Meyers reported they had one resignation taking them down to 11 TCs, and they will be testing shortly.

b. Rock Island – Franks stated they are fully staffed at 12 TCs.

c. QComm – Ryckeghem reported they have 19 full-time dispatchers, three in training, two going through background, and two more to be hired.

d. Arsenal – Noe stated they have six full time TCs, one in training, and one spot left. They are planning to promote or hire a dispatch lead and then backfill the open position. She also stated they have had no QComm transfers.

e. SECC – Screechfield stated they hired three that started last week, and plan to hire four more by the end of February. They are changing their training program this round and modeling it like other agencies have done, one being Des Moines PD. The goal is to be at seven within the year.

6. Secondary PSAP Reports.

a. AMT EMS – No Report.

b. Medic EMS – No Report.

7. Technical Report.

a. EDR – Schipper reported he has a meeting on Thursday with Heartland Business Systems to discuss a Microsoft Solution product that would replace CrowdStrike. This product would only be installed on workstations under ETSB control. Schipper will present the Heartland proposal next month.

b. DORS Update – Gault reported that CopLogic is up and running for everyone. A total of 107 reports have been submitted, and 86 of those have been successful. There is still an API interface problem with CentralSquare. CentralSquare is moving to a more universal API interface, and because of that, LexisNexis hopes to have the issue resolved by the first quarter.

c. IPSTA – Schipper and Meyers both stated indoor school mapping was a high point of the conference. Meyers reported that each school will cost between $3,000-$5,000 for mapping. Gault stated there are around 40 schools in Rock Island County, and the cost could be around $200,000. Meyers mentioned that indoor school mapping will be part of the FY26 NG911 grant if we were interested in applying. Seiver thought we were about a year away from applying for the school mapping grant.

1) State Advisory Board Meeting – Beswick and Seiver discussed the State Advisory Board meeting that followed the conference. Beswick stated a large concern for ILNENA and ILAPCO are the regulations that are being put out by the Illinois State Police. Seiver went on to say section 1325 is a cause for concern because it address requirements for all agencies regarding reporting and many consider it overreach by the Illinois State Police.

8. Other Business.

a. RapidSOS – Tabled until the December 3 meeting.

b. Priority Dispatch Policy Change – Ryckeghem reported that Houzenga worked on a policy change regarding CPR recertification. He stated after looking into it, it was determined that dispatchers no longer need the American Heart Association’s traditional CPR to fulfill their EMD requirements once certified. Initial EMD certification will still require hands-on traditional CPR, with an online dispatcher directed CPR portion through Priority Dispatch thereafter for recertification. Houzenga received approval from Dr. Barr and Adam Sowells to make this change. Gault made a motion to accept this recommendation, since Dr. Barr has signed off on it. Beswick seconded, and the motion carried by roll call vote.

c. AT&T Phone Lines – Cary stated she and Schipper have been contacting lines on our current AT&T bill. One line rang to the Rock Island County Dispatch, and one fax number went through to Rock Island County Dispatch. Meyers stated the line could be disconnected, but not the fax, and Schipper stated we would work on converting that to VOIP. Cary reported that all other lines either rang or had a busy signal continuously. Gault made a motion to accept the recommendation to cancel the lines. Ramsey seconded, and the motion passed by voice vote.

9. Public Comment. None.

10. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 10:37 a.m. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at the Rock Island Police Department.

https://www.rockislandcountyil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12032024-1014