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Implementation Task Force
January 2009
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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.
APCO Leadership Meeting with FEMA
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
Office of Emergency Communications-Department of
Homeland Security Coordination
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.
APCO-NENA Joint Board meeting at IWCE
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.
APCO Institute
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
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700 MHz.
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.
Appeals Court Blocked FCC’s New Wireless Accuracy
Rule
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.
Membership
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."
Committee Signups
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.
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