9-1-1 Working Group Update

 in State 911 by

Just a little history of the Working Group first:
During a break out session at the 2013 CALNENA Mission Critical Event, Ryan Dulan of the State 9-1-1 Office presented a series of seven proposed changes to the policies of the 9-1-1 Office.

The proposals were:

  1. Travel Reimbursement would be in line with State of California travel guidelines.
  2. Training Allotment of $3,000 would be for all 9-1-1 training activities, not just CALNENA.
  3. Support of Wireless Service Providers – State 9-1-1 will no longer pay for a portion of the wireless 9-1-1 system.
  4. Translation Services would only be reimbursed at the current contract rate, and if any PSAP is using another vendor, they would only reimburse to the contract rate, which was half the cost.
  5. Change from a 5-year to 7-year Upgrade or Replacement Cycle for customer premise equipment (CPE).
  6. Eliminate the Annual Accrual method of funding, and only fund actual costs.
  7. An Annual Spending Plan needs to be submitted by each PSAP every year for the following fiscal year.

These proposals were very controversial to say the least, and PSAPs throughout the state were not happy with both the proposals and the way they were to be implemented. The 9-1-1 Office held meetings with interest groups like APCO and NENA, and held a virtual town hall meeting to get feedback from these groups and the PSAPs.

The April 2013 meeting of the 9-1-1 Advisory Board discussed the proposals and the feedback. Three of the seven proposals were adopted by the 9-1-1 Office. Travel reimbursement, Training Allotment, and Wireless Service were non-controversial.

The language translation contract was redone in this time period, and the only approved vendor was Language Line, so the issue was moot.

It was decided to create a working group of representatives from the wide spectrum of PSAPs in the state to address the remaining three issues:

  • 1 representative from the State 9-1-1 Office
  • 1 representative from the 9-1-1 Advisory Board
  • 1 representative from the California Police Chiefs Association
  • 1 representative from the California Sheriffs Association
  • 1 representative from the California County Coordinator Task Force
  • 1 representative from a large PSAP
  • 1 representative from a medium PSAP
  • 1 representative from a small PSAP
  • 1 representative from a secondary (fire) PSAP

The 9-1-1 Office then asked for nominations from the 9-1-1 Advisory Board for people to sit on this working group. Nominations were submitted by board members to Karen Wong, head of the 9-1-1 Office. I nominated myself to sit on the Working Group to work on these policy changes. The approved members were announced at the July Advisory Board meeting. The approved members are:

  • State 9-1-1 Office – Monica McGrath
  • 9-1-1 Advisory Board – Chuck Berdan
  • California Police Chiefs Association – David Wilson – Ventura PD
  • California Sheriffs Association – Chris Herren, Placer County SO
  • California County Coordinator Task Force – Laurie Sowder
  • Large PSAP – Danita Crombach – Ventura SO
  • Medium PSAP – Lynn Bowler – Elk Grove PD
  • Small PSAP – Steve Ynzunza – Gilroy PD
  • Secondary (fire) PSAP – Don Wise – Verdugo Communications

As the member of the 9-1-1 Advisory Board, I was appointed chairperson of the group.

The Working Group met for the first time on August 15th, and have been meeting on a conference call monthly, and in person the day before the scheduled 9-1-1 Advisory Board meetings in September and November.

The majority of the work by the group so far has been to review and discuss the input from the town hall meetings, and gather data from the 9-1-1 Office on current and historical practices of PSAP funding.

So just to summarize the discussions on each of the three items:
Change from a 5-year to 7-year Upgrade or Replacement Cycle for CPE – the group has been reviewing historical data on PSAP upgrades, and looking at input from the Town Hall meetings. We also sent out a survey to all the PSAPs regarding funding, and are reviewing that input. I will note that the survey was returned by 80% of all the PSAPs in the state, so we got a good representation. This item and the accrual item are tied together.

Eliminate the Annual Accrual method of funding, and only fund actual costs. The discussion has been surrounding whether or not the funding method is broken. We have a face to face meeting next week to make some decisions on proposals.

Annual Spending Plan needs to be submitted by each PSAP every year for the following fiscal year. Again this is all tied to the budgeting process, and will be based on what is changed to the current plan. The thinking is that this should be a simple form, perhaps done entirely on-line by the PSAP.

The Long Range Planning Committee also asked the Working Group to address the residual/incremental item list. This is the list of non-CPE items that can be purchased with SETNA funds both during an upgrade/replacement and at other times. That task was completed, with the proposed list submitted to the LRPC at the November meeting. That list will be up for discussion and approval at the next 9-1-1 Advisory Board meeting. I will say that for the most part, the list stays the same, with the exception of things like remodel costs and carpet, which the group agreed should not be paid by 9-1-1 funds.

So that’s what is happening on the Working Group. I want to thank all the members of the Group for their hard work so far, especially Monica McGrath and Paul Dumetz from the 9-1-1 Office for setting up the meetings and gathering the data we have asked for.