PRESENT: B. Blanchard, G. Totman, P. Penniman, M. Lane, M. Robertson

STAFF: S. Whicher, County Administrator; M. Shakarjian, Capital Program Coordinator; L. Shurtleff, Director, Emergency Response; J. Miller, Fire, Disaster & EMS Coordinator; J. Wood, B. Wilson, County Attorney’s Office; W. Skinner, Public Information Coordinator; U. Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator

GUESTS: T. Joseph, D. Kiefer, Board of Representatives; L. Withiam, E911 Operations Committee; B. Wilbur, Ithaca City Fire Chief; K. Lansing, Chief, Cayuga Heights Police Department

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting opened at 11:31 a.m. The following articles were distributed: Reconciling Differences: Incompatible radio systems hamper efforts to save lives in an emergency, and Preparing for the Worst: How are local governments planning and training to counter terrorism?

ADDITIONS TO/DELETIONS FROM THE AGENDA

None.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 18 MEETING

It was MOVED by Mr. Totman, seconded by Mr. Penniman, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the December18, 2001 minutes with the recommended changes.

COMMUNICATION CENTER

BUILDING COMMITTEE

Mr. Whicher mentioned that the prime contracted cost for the addition to the Cayuga Heights Fire Station was $116 per sft. He said he would find out the total development cost involved. Ms. Blanchard said she would meet Mr. Lansing Friday morning and see the facility. 

LEGAL AGREEMENT

Ms. Blanchard welcomed Mr. Bruce Wilson, the Deputy County Attorney. Mr. Wood distributed copies of the draft Joint Contract for Lease, Construction and Maintenance for Public Safety Communications Center. The Agreement is among the City of Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca, Ithaca College and Tompkins County. Mr. Wood said that after approval of the draft by the ComCap Committee, the Agreement would be presented to the signatories of the agencies involved. He mentioned some complicating factors in the agreement. For instance, the Town of Ithaca owns the land, currently occupied by the South Hill Fire Station # 5, which is currently leased to the City of Ithaca. In addition, Ithaca College has an agreement with the Town of Ithaca that any improvements to the property shall be reviewed by the College. The City has the right under their lease to add improvements to the existing structure. Further, the deed to the Town from the College has restrictions on usage of the premises as a fire station. He said the Agreement incorporates a clause regarding the willingness of the parties to share a telecommunications tower to be located on College property and have it connect to the Communications Center.
Mr. Wood and Mr. Wilson then went through the various parts of the agreement along with the members. Mr. Wood said the County would obtain the land for construction of the Center by a 99-year lease from the Town and the lease shall be free of any restrictive covenants as to reversion. He mentioned that the Agreement is conditioned upon all necessary approvals being granted by the Town within 60 days of commencing the review process. Ms. Blanchard requested clarification that while the building permit will be issued by the County, the Town will conduct site plan review. She spoke of a similar collaborative process that worked quite well on previous projects within the City. Mr. Wood noted that because the existing structure belongs to the Town, this approach seems fair. Mr. Penniman and Ms. Robertson expressed their agreement with the process as proposed.
 
Next Mr. Wood explained that there is a stipulation that Ithaca College will provide space on the tower that will be built for College use, for installation of the County’s equipment. The County would bear the incremental additional cost resulting from its use of the tower including that for fiber optic connection from the College  connector to the Center. Mr. Shurtleff emphasized the importance of unobstructed visual access to the tower from the Communications Center. Mr. Penniman wanted a clarification that the County will have access to and use of the tower for the duration of the Agreement. Ms. Blanchard asked Mr. Shurtleff to review the wording of paragraph 8 pertaining to provision of security by Ithaca College. Mr. Wood said that the draft Agreement would be distributed to the members by January 30 after incorporating the suggested changes. Ms. Blanchard said she would discuss with the members individually regarding approval of the draft. She also mentioned that in order to proceed to the final design phase, a new contract will have to be drawn up with the architect and this can be done only after the Agreement is executed or we are reasonably assured that it will be executed pending minor revisions. The committee discussed the timing of a presentation to the full Board on the project. Mr. Joseph felt that issuing of bids for construction is the point when the Board may be approached for approval. Mr. Wilbur suggested holding a project coordination meeting involving all the agencies. Ms. Robertson suggested drawing up a flow chart to understand the impact of delays in various activities. Ms. Blanchard said she would talk to Cathy Valentino and work with Mr. Whicher to create a decision-tree. 

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM PROJECT

Ms. Shakarjian distributed the revised timeline for the communication project along with a Draft RFP Tentative Procurement Timeline. She said the comment period for the Draft RFP has been extended until February 11. She noted that the response was good. She said that an amendment of contract with NYSTEC would not be necessary as United Radio will now undertake the job of frequency analysis for the paging system. This change to the United Radio contractual arrangement can be made without further action by the committee. The group discussed the timelines for some of the major activities of the communications project. In response to a question from Ms. Robertson regarding the possibility of simply upgrading the existing system, Mr. Whicher said that in view of lack of State funding, alternative solutions are being looked at and the responses to the RFP are expected to include alternative approaches including upgrading of the existing system. Ms. Blanchard said that she expected to find out a lot more on SWN activities next week at the NYSAC Conference in Albany. In reply to a question by Mr. Lane prompted by a packet of information received from an interested citizen regarding failure of 800 Mhz systems, Mr. Whicher said that poor system design appears to be responsible for the reported failures of 800 MHz systems in some instances. Ms. Shakarjian said she was researching the reasons of failure in order to avoid the pitfalls experienced by some communities.

COMMUNICATIONS CENTER STAFFING

Mr. Shurtleff announced that Glen Sharson will be the new Dispatch Director. Mr. Whicher said that Mr. Miller will retire in early April.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 1:18 p.m.
 

Submitted by Ujjal Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator.