Rock Island Today

Rock Island County Emergency Telephone System Board met Aug. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

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

BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT:

OTHERS PRESENT: Tracy Czekalski, Rock Island County Sheriff’s Department; Chris Johnson, Derek Radosevich, Milan Police Department; Jason Kratt, East Moline Police Department; Summer O’Leary, Moline Police Department; Jerry Sottos, Moline Fire Department; Scott Ryckeghem, Margo Sparbel, QComm; Chelsea Noe, Rock Island Arsenal; Kirk Pattison, Nick Pauley, Rock Island Police Department; Amber Dennis, Coal Valley Police Department; Stacey Bollinger, Tracey Screechfield, SECC; Khyree McCorkle, Factor Technology Solutions; Tom Helbing, FirstNet; Jim Uskavitch, Wayne Mooney, Rich Schipper, Christine Cary, Bi-State Regional Commission; Mia Frommelt, Bohnsack & Frommelt, LLP

1. Approval of the July 1, 2025 Minutes. VanKlaveren moved that the minutes of the July meeting be approved as presented. Beswick seconded, and the motion was approved.

2. Financial Reports. Cary distributed the August Accounts Payable totaling $169,052.24. She noted that the payment for the Universal API was included in the listing, along with a RACOM invoice that was originally approved in 2020 in connection with the P25 system. Additionally, she pointed out that monthly deposits outside of the surcharge are now included in the Accounts Payable listing for the Board’s monthly review. Gault moved that the August accounts payable be approved for payment. McCloud seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously by roll call vote. The following financial report was presented:

POOL Balance: $ 542,000.00

Checkbook Balance: $ 408,217.56

PFM LT Investments: $ 2,354,000.00

BH LT 9-Month CD: $ 500,000.00

TOTAL Monies: $ 3,804,217.56

July Surcharge: $ 151,517.35

IL Refund NG911: $ 214,510.53

3. FY Ending March 31, 2025. Mia Frommelt from Bohnsack & Frommelt, LLP presented a summary of the FY25 Audit Report. She reported that the year-end audit resulted in an unmodified opinion, which is a clean opinion on compliance and financial statements. Frommelt highlighted that any multi-year agreement under Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements (SBITA) must be accounted for as either an asset or a liability, depending on the financing terms of the agreement. For FY25, the organization reported approximately $1.2 million in subscription-based technology assets and about $267,000.00 in related liabilities, resulting in a net positive impact of roughly $1 million on the balance sheet. Gault asked whether having $1.2 million in subscription assets requires a corresponding reserve. Frommelt clarified that no such reserve is required. Seiver followed up by asking what would constitute best practices regarding cash reserves policy. Frommelt recommended monitoring the situation annually during the budgeting process. Seiver concluded by remarking that the audit overall served as a good report card for the organization. Beswick made a motion to accept the financial report as presented by Bohnsack & Frommelt, LLP. Meyers seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously by roll call vote.

4. PSAP Reports.

a. County – Czekalski reported that everything is good; however, she had to open another ticket with RapidSOS due to calls not appearing on the phone screens.

b. Rock Island – Pattison reported that they are fully staffed at 12 TCs.

c. QComm – Ryckeghem reported they are at 20 full-time TCs, with three in training, one started today, and three additional positions to be filled. He noted that the administrative line was down for approximately 20 minutes yesterday due to an issue with Telnyx.

d. Arsenal – Noe reported they have six fully trained TCs and remain under a hiring freeze, with no indication of when it will be lifted. She also noted there have been no QComm transfers, and none are currently scheduled.

e. SECC – Screechfield reported that they are not fully staffed and will be losing a trainee next week, as she is going back to school. She also noted that a full-time TC is finished this week and will likewise be returning to school. Screechfield added that a recruitment discussion is likely to occur this week or next.

5. Secondary PSAP Reports.

a. AMT EMS – No Report.

b. Medic EMS – Andorf reported via email that all is good.

6. Technical Report.

a. NinjaOne – Mooney reported that the MDM NinjaOne rollout is complete. They have been testing patching policy on training PCs, with positive results. He stated the next step will be to expand the testing into the PSAPs, likely starting with one machine per site.

b. Muli-Factor Authentication (MFA) – Mooney stated that the MFA solution was successfully implemented following the last meeting. He reported the rollout went smoothly and expressed his appreciation to everyone involved, including Factor, for their support in ensuring a seamless transition.

c. Command Bus – Mooney reported they had a meeting with the Sheriff’s Department and additional partners to discuss updates to the Command Bus. ILEAS is currently conducting upgrades, and they are working with them to update the dispatch and communications equipment. Schipper provided further details, stating that the existing computers will be removed and replaced with dock-enabled, fully functional monitors. Officers will either bring their MDTs on board or use training laptops equipped with CentralSquare Pro.

d. Call Handling – Schipper stated next month he will be discussing call handling software.

e. CentralSquare Tickets – Gault inquired about repeated CAD system crashes occurring multiple times during a single shift and questioned why this had not been classified as a critical ticket. Schipper responded that CentralSquare only categorizes tickets as critical in the event of a full outage. He further explained that the initial analysis at QComm indicated the issue was related to mugshot files. Schipper noted he had spoken with Robert at CentralSquare, who created a new folder to store mugshots. However, redirecting the mugshots to the new location prevented Curt Champion’s system from receiving them. When the folder path was reverted, the system crashes resumed. Schipper confirmed he consulted with Geneseo to determine whether bandwidth was a factor, but they reported no bandwidth issues. He stated he would conduct a deep dive, including point-to-point testing between QComm and RICOMM with Geneseo, to ensure there are no underlying issues. Sparbel reported that system crashes have decreased to approximately one per shift, though the cause of the improvement remains unknown. Gault asked whether other PSAPs were experiencing similar issues. No others appeared to be crashing as frequently as QComm. Czekalski noted that while they had experienced crashes in April, the issue had since resolved itself. Gault recommended applying additional pressure on CentralSquare to resolve the matter. Schipper stated he would refresh the existing support ticket and provide updates during future meetings. Gault proposed the Board receive weekly email updates on the ticket. He emphasized that continued system crashes are unacceptable, and that dispatchers should not be forced to operate under such conditions. He suggested that, if necessary, the Chairman could call an emergency meeting based on the information from the weekly reports. VanKlaveren proposed sending a formal letter to CentralSquare in the meantime. Gault then made a motion to authorize the Chairman to draft a letter to CentralSquare referencing the ticket from April 2025 regarding the CAD crashing and the critical nature of public safety and demand attention. VanKlaveren seconded the motion, which passed by voice vote. Seiver stated he may circulate a draft of the letter to the Board for review prior to sending it to CentralSquare. Gault also asked whether this situation should be communicated to dispatch. Seiver agreed and noted that a message should be sent to all dispatchers, informing them that ETSB is aware of the issue and is actively working toward a solution.

7. Other Business.

a. CentralSquare Contract – Seiver reported that he had a discussion with John Kelly regarding measures to protect the Board’s interests in contract negotiations with CentralSquare. Kelly acknowledged the concern and indicated he could draft appropriate language to address it. Seiver noted that he is expecting an email from Kelly with this language and will share it with the Board upon receipt. He also reminded the Board that the 180-day deadline falls later this month. Accordingly, Seiver requested a motion to authorize him to notify CentralSquare of the Board’s intent to enter into negotiations. Gault made the motion. VanKlaveren seconded, and the motion was approved by voice vote.

b. CentralSquare Cloud Quote – Seiver reported that we received a quote from CentralSquare for transitioning to their cloud-based solution. However, there are concerns regarding the language and clarity of the proposal. O’Leary expressed hesitation about moving forward until there is confirmation of which interfaces are included. CentralSquare claims their quote covers everything we currently have. However, if they are stating that the API covers all functionality, the fear that our current vendors would need to develop custom APIs to replicate existing interfaces would be prohibitively expensive. O’Leary emphasized the need for CentralSquare to provide written assurance that all existing interfaces are accounted for in the cloud quote. Cary shared that while there had initially been verbal assurance that all existing functionality was included, they later discovered at least one of the interfaces was missing. Gault stressed the importance of having language in the agreement to confirm that all current interfaces are included in the cloud solution. Schipper noted that one advantage of moving to a cloud-based environment is that it minimizes the risk of downtime during major system updates. He also pointed out the benefit of internet availability and managing our own connections, which could reduce vulnerability to endpoint attacks. Seiver added that the move to the cloud would help avoid dependence on hardware upgrades dictated by the CentralSquare. He concluded by stating that we would continue to engage with CentralSquare to address these concerns and will explore both cloud-based and on premises solutions as part of a multi-year agreement.

c. Conferences – Cary stated she contacted the PSAP directors to see if they had anyone interested in attending the IPSTA conference. She stated she received responses that each PSAP had one or two people interested. Gault asked what past practice was, and Schipper reported that it has usually been board members and support staff. Czekalski stated in the past the Board has paid for a dispatcher from each PSAP to go. Gault stated we could cover one person from each PSAP fully and one additional registration from each PSAP for the second person. McCloud made the motion. Gault seconded, and the motion was approved by roll call vote. VanKlavern made a motion to table sending O’Leary and Houzenga to the Engage conference and to gather more information from CentralSquare and possibly use that during negotiations. McCloud seconded, and the motion was approved by voice vote.

d. Nearmap – Cary informed the Board that the Nearmap renewal subscription is $14,851.29. All previous participants wish to continue with their participation. ETSB’s share will remain at 25%, amounting to $3,712.84. While we will cover the full cost upfront, we will be reimbursed for $11,138.45. Gault made a motion for approval of the subscription. VanKlaveren seconded, and the motion passed by roll call vote.

8. Public Comment. None.

9. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 11:38 a.m. The next monthly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Rock Island Police Department.

https://www.rockislandcountyil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09022025-1009?html=true