Executive Council

SGI Update
Strategic Governance
Implementation Task Force
January 2009

Executive Council Update

Executive Council Report – April 2008 

Art!

Art McDole celebrates his 90th birthday on April 3!   Art has been a long time Northern California local advisor for AFC and has been a member of APCO since 1949!   Look for an article on Art in April issue of Public Safety Communications.   Art is planning on attending the annual conference in Kansas City after a seven-year absence.

In March, APCO International President Carter, First Vice President Mirgon and Executive Director Rice met with FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison to discuss matters of mutual interest. The APCO leadership contingent engaged Administrator Paulison on the following issues:

• The inclusion of APCO training courses at EMI and the Fire Academy
• Greater synergy between FEMA and APCO re: TERT
• Publishing articles by Admin. Paulison in APCO's monthly magazine, Public Safety Communications
• Issuing information and alerts through APCO's four monthly e-publications to the membership

Throughout both February and March, and set as an ongoing theme, APCO has fostered a relationship with DHS/OEC.   A number of potential points of collaboration are being pursued, to include opportunities to work closely during the remainder of this federal fiscal year on examining planning, training and exercises in support of public safety communications and OEC's mission. 

At the end of last month, the APCO and NENA Boards held another in the ongoing series of joint Board meetings.   The two sets of association leadership continued their collaborative discussions on coordinating with the FCC, on managing the TERT initiative and on the exploration of holding consecutive joint winter events in 2009.  

The Institute's course schedule has reached record breaking numbers with well over 150 courses on the schedule, either live or online.   There is definitely something for everyone!   Institute staff is working hard and doing a great job of keeping this rolling!   Check out the schedule at http://www.apcointl.com/institute/schedule_registration.htm .

On March 20, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an Order de-linking the Upper 700 MHz D Block from the other blocks offered in the 700 MHz Auction (Auction 73), which closed on March 18, 2008.   The D Block did not meet its $1.3 billion reserve price established in advance of the auction, while the other blocks - the A, B, C, and E Blocks - met and exceeded their reserve prices. The Commission is committed to making this spectrum available for use quickly after the DTV transition on February 17, 2009.   This enabled the FCC to proceed with releasing the information on the winning bidders in the A, B, C, and E Blocks and to move forward with licensing this spectrum.   The FCC decided that it will not re-offer the D Block immediately in Auction 76 but will consider its options for how to license this spectrum in the future.  

Last week, a federal appeals court blocked the FCC's new E9-1-1 location accuracy rule from going into effect, possibly setting the stage for the court to overturn the agency's 2007 decision.    The Court's action is based upon its concern with the process by which the rules were modified, not the merits of the rules.   APCO International continues to support the underlying premise of the FCC's action, that location accuracy must be measured where it matters the most, at the PSAP level.    Regardless of procedural issues that may or may not be resolved by courts or the FCC, that requirement must be retained in the final FCC rules.

February brought in 253 new members.   This contributes to an overall increase of one percent over January and almost five percent above the same period last year.   Our total member count is at its highest point in three years (Feb 05 = 14,875).  

As of March 1 81 percent had renewed their memberships.   This is within one percent of last year's renewal percentages.   The final round of hard copy invoices went out in late January.   Non-renewing members, as of February 14, have not received a magazine.   In an effort to retain them non-renewing members are currently being called.   Members can pay their dues on-line at https://apconetforum.org/eweb by clicking on "My Open Invoices."

A reminder that all members, even those currently on a committee, must re-volunteer for next year's committee.   This can be completed at https://apconetforum.org/eweb by clicking on "Committee Signup."   The deadline to volunteer is April 15.