County 9-1-1 Commission Votes to Move Forward with System Upgrades

Meeting Called to Order

Roll Call of Members

• Board Chairman – Chief Gary Sparks, Oxford Fire Department – Present

• Board Vice -Chairman – Sheriff Matthew Wade, Calhoun County Sheriff Office – Absent

• Director Randy Reaves, Safety and Security, Calhoun County BOE – Absent

• Chief Van Roberts Sr., Quad Cities VFD (Retired) – Present
• Trooper Herbert Palmore, ALDPS (Retired) – Present
• Chief Shane Denham, Anniston Police Department (Retired) – Present
• Calhoun County Administrator, Mark Tyner – Present

Approval of Agenda – Unanimously Approved

• Addition of a Request from Talladega County

Approval of Minutes – Unanimously Approved

Approval of Financial Reports – No reports

• Once prepared these will be sent to the board of directors

Old Business

• Ambulance RFP Update – There was a meeting with RMC to discuss “wall times” (this is the time to transition patients from an ambulance to the hospital). The delay has been up to an hour due to the inability to get the patients transferred to the hospital. This creates fewer ambulances on the road and thereby creates longer call times in responding to emergency calls. Representatives from Jacksonville, Anniston, and Oxford met to see if they can assist RMC. An offer that was made was to treat patients as if they were a part of a mass casualty incident. This would allow paramedics to be able to triage the patients and setup a temporary location or tent to help process patience. While this offer was not needed per RMC, the offer stands. RMC has actually opened up a new section and this has reduced wall times and overall delays. Johnny Warren, owner of Anniston EMS, spoke and said they were currently back to normal wait times and were have no major issues. On evaluating the RFP the consensus was that this may not be the best time to ask ambulance services to worry about bids. While things are improving, it is still a crisis time. A motion was made to table the RFP until the first month of 2022. – Unanimously Approved Motion to Table

• Communications System Upgrade Update – The County Commission has agreed to join the 9-1-1 system and has passed their budget. JSU has not confirmed, but they have given no indication they will not also be joining. All municipalities have budgets for a seven year payout starting in FY2023. A request has been made to look into the 9-1-1 system starting payout after October 2022 so the budget being voted on during this meeting is not impacted. Another proposition was to see if the municipalities could pay their portions over six years versus seven years to offset the 9-1-1 board being a year out on debt. Based on all the discussion, a vote was held on moving forward with securing the loan for the upgrade and pursuing the contract with Motorola. – Unanimously Approved
• FY21 Budget Revisions / FY22 Budget Approval – Director Kevin Jenkins noted a few revisions to the budget. There is a $215,000 logging recorder upgrade that wasn’t previously included. In addition a microwave upgrade was added totaling $752,000. No changes have been made to the estimated city contribution amounts.  The user fee has not been increased from $34.14 at this time and there are no plans to increase this fee. The current cash amount is $2.12 million. The yearly incoming cash projections are  estimated at $1.8 million  for FY22, $1.899 million for FY23, $1.6 million for FY24, and $1.8 million for FY25.  The director felt the budget shows consistency. – Unanimously Approved

• Personnel Committee / Employee Contract – Brad Cam-bell’s contract as System’s Manager expired. The proposed new contract had relatively few changes. There was a 2% cost of living adjustment, four weeks of vacation time a year, changes to the liability insurance for county vehicles, and changes to the NDA and arbitration agreement. – Unanimously Approved
• Director Kevin Jenkins was approached by Talladega County to be used as an expert witness in pending litigation. Per his contract, he is formally requesting approval to perform this job. The job would be conducted on personal time and his compensation would come from Talladega County. – Unanimously  Approved
• Board Chairman / Director Comments – Mr. Campbell presented a tracking report that showed statistical analysis of calls, busiest days, month to month calls, and yearly comparison of call traffic. 
• Charman Sparks wanted to thank everyone for their hard work during these stressful times. He noted the increased call volume, burden on the hospitals, and really credited the 911 workers for how smoothly they handled all that came their way. 
• Board Member Comments
  • Shane Denham noted how glad he was that Brad Campbell was staying on. He noted how helpful and available he  has always been. 
• Public Comments (three minutes each)
  • Chief Kadle spoke to thank the board for their professionalism and hard work. 
  • Johnny Warren spoke about how stressful this pandemic has been, but he was fortunate not to have lost any employees to COVID. He noted the hard work of all the hospitals as well. 
  • Johnny Phelps spoke to reflect on how thankful he was to everybody and to just note what  a good job the dispatchers do.