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. Wood, County Attorney; W. Skinner, Public Information Coordinator; U. Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator

GUESTS: N. Schuler, Board of Representatives; J. Lalley, Cornell University; B. Wilbur, Ithaca City Fire Chief; D. Barber, Supervisor, Town of Caroline 

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting opened at 11:37 a.m. 

ADDITIONS TO/DELETIONS FROM THE AGENDA

Mr. Whicher requested one addition: Design Contract for 911 Building. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MARCH 26 MEETING

It was MOVED by Mr. Penniman, seconded by Mr. Lane, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the March 26, 2002 minutes.

It was decided to put up the minutes of the April 19 meeting for approval at the next meeting after incorporating some changes.

DESIGN CONTRACT FOR  911 BUILDING

Mr. Whicher said that he met Mr. Egner regarding design of the 911 building at the new location adjacent to the CFR Building. A contract has been drafted but it needs to be better defined and more specific, and he expected this to be completed shortly. Meanwhile, he requested authorization from the committee to complete contract negotiations and present the contract to the County Board.

It was MOVED by Mr. Totman, seconded by Mr. Lane, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, that Mr. Whicher may go ahead with negotiations with Egner Associates and prepare a contract for the design of the 911 Building, for presentation to the County Board. 

ComCap will meet briefly before the May 7 BOR meeting to review the final agreement and formally approve it. Mr. Whicher said that a schedule for the project has been prepared and will be distributed.

COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT RFP RELEASE

Ms. Shakarjian said that five departments are involved in preparation of the RFP and expected it to be released on May 8. A bidders’ conference is scheduled for June 3. She mentioned that 15-20 vendors would be added to the list provided by NYSTEC for distribution of the RFP. Letters will go out to the vendors informing them that the RFP is available in digital format in CD or at a website. In reply to a question by Mr. Lane on the evaluation process to be adopted, she said that NYSTEC’s help would be sought to develop the evaluation process. Mr. Wood remarked that the evaluation process would depend on the number of proposals we get. He felt the real issue was whether the system proposed will work. Mr. Shurtleff said that each response would likely have a base proposal and two alternatives. Ms. Shakarjian noted that the RFP would specify mandatory requirements.

The group briefly discussed the bidding process. It was decided that County Director of Finance David Squires should be consulted about this, and he joined the meeting at noon. Mr. Squires said that a bidding fee is charged to recover the cost of preparing bid packages. He clarified that it is important to know who has requested the RFP as, when/if addendums are necessary, these need to go to all the vendors who have applied. The group discussed the feasibility of an electronic option for the bidding process and came to the conclusion that while the RFP document could be made available through registration basis on the web, paper copies should be maintained for the general public in County Administration and Board of Representatives offices. It was agreed that a condensed version of the RFP would also be made available on the County’s website. 
    
Mr. Squires left at this point at 12:08 p.m.

PAGING PROJECT UPDATE

Mr. Lalley referred to the April 19 ComCap meeting when Rick Webster made his presentation and distributed the United Radio report. He said that the proposed system provided for an in-building coverage of over 90%. ACD Telecom conducted a frequency search and recommended 460.275 MHz band as the frequency for licensing countywide. He pointed out that the proposal includes two new towers on Aiken Road and Taft Road. The first map in the report shows consolidated coverage while the others show details of different areas. He said the effect on coverage using existing structures only, that is, without the two new towers, is now being studied by United Radio. The paging team is working on estimates of capital and operational costs. A contract with ACD for license application for the recommended frequency is being drawn up. It will be necessary to increase the contract amount as the initial amount of $5,000 will not be adequate. He mentioned that there are currently two vendors for voice paging. He remarked that logical trunk radio (LTR) was being marketed for public safety application and a vendor list was available.

The group briefly discussed the issue of pager purchase. Mr. Lalley said that the price of a voice pager is about $200 if purchased in bulk and the total number required is between 1,000 and 1,100. He said purchase of pagers is the responsibility of end-users such as fire companies. Mr. Shurtleff said that the paging team has discussed having the County purchase the pagers in bulk and provide them to the end-users with a four year pay back. Mr. Lalley said that the number of vendors in voice pagers and voice systems was diminishing. However, he added, voice paging was the likely option in view of valid operational reasons of fire companies. He said that bidding for the system is expected to take place in September and the system is expected to be operational by the spring of next year. 

Mr. Lalley left at this point at 12:38 p.m.  

RADIO COST PROPOSAL

Ms. Blanchard referred to Mr. Joseph’s memo, distributed earlier, on the question of how to pay for new radios which will be required for use with the new system, whichever proposal is chosen. It was decided to form a group to work on this issue and propose a solution. Mr. Penniman will be the convener and the other members will be Ms. Robertson, Mr. Shurtleff, Mr. Wilbur and Mr. Squires.

DOT PROJECT

Mr. Blanchard said that the subject has not been revisited for a while as clarification on the NYS budget was awaited. In fact the position was still not clear. She referred to a recent call from DOT Cortland on this issue and to her project update letters dated March 4, 2002 addressed to NYS Representatives.  She also referred to her letter of April 2 to Mark Varvayanis, Supervisor, Town of Dryden, regarding the need to look at potential sites following the decision not to pursue the proposed site on Hanshaw Road. As discussed with Mr. Varvayanis, several sites north of the Village of Dryden would now be investigated. She said that, according to Mr. Varvayanis, it should be possible to provide public utilities there. She felt that it was important to come to a consensus on the site so that we are able to move quickly if/when state funding is released. Mr. Varvayanis is taking the lead on discussions with the Village of Dryden regarding the feasibility of these sites.

NEW BUSINESS

Ms. Shakarjian spoke of a presentation on the paging project by the County paging team before the Environmental Management Council on May 8. This is the same presentation that will be given to the Board of Representatives on May 7 and at later dates to the public safety community via the 911 Committee, the fire chiefs group and others as appropriate.  

Ms. Blanchard said that the 911 Centers at Cayuga and Oswego Counties are worth visiting and requested Mr. Shurtleff to organize field trips for concerned persons.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 12:57 p.m.
 
 

Submitted by Ujjal Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator.