PRESENT: T. Joseph, J. Lalley, P. Penniman, M. Lane (partly)

EXCUSED: B. Blanchard, G. Totman

STAFF:  S. Whicher, County Administrator; J. Hanson, M. Shakarjian, Planning Department; L. Shurtleff, J. Miller, Fire, Disaster and EMS; J. Wood, Deputy County Attorney; W. Skinner, Public Information Coordinator; U. Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator

GUESTS:  D. Kiefer, Board of Representatives; L. Withiam, E911 Operations Committee; B. Wilbur, Ithaca City Fire Chief; J.Vitale, Sheriff's Department 

CALL TO ORDER

In the absence of Ms. Blanchard, Mr. Joseph conducted the meeting. The meeting opened at 12:07 p.m.

ADDITIONS TO/DELETIONS FROM AGENDA

None

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL MEETING

It was MOVED by Mr. Lalley, seconded by Mr. Penniman and unanimously adopted by voice vote of members present to approve the April 24, 2001 minutes. 

COMMUNICATIONS CENTER: BUILDING COMMITTEES

Mr. Withiam said there was a meeting of the 911 Building Committee with Tony Egner of Egner Associates on April 30 when the project was discussed. He said he had meetings with Dispatch and Mr. Egner regarding square footage of different areas. The 911Building Committee will meet with Mr. Egner tomorrow. This will be followed by another meeting on June 4. In response to a question from Mr. Joseph, he gave the following timeline: rough schematics by July, update by September, construction drawings by December, bids by January, contract by February and construction thereafter. In response to another question from Mr. Lalley, he clarified that the Building Committee he referred to is the ‘Client Committee’ which deals with square footage etc. while the other Building Committee is the ‘Board Committee’ which deals with money matters. Mr. Lalley noted that at the Public Works Committee there was an audit of payment to Egner, but it was not clear for what. Mr. Penniman asked if we have a firm price for what Egner is doing now. There was no answer available. Mr. Joseph said that depending on how soon an estimate is available from Egner Associates, the expenditure can be put in the capital program for the next budget cycle. 

CINGULAR 911 ROUTING

Mr. Wood said the issue relating to transfer of emergency calls has now been resolved with Cingular Wireless and he recommended that the agreement with them be signed.

It was MOVED by Mr. Lalley, seconded by Mr. Penniman and unanimously adopted by voice vote of members present, to approve the County’s agreement with Cingular Wireless for transfer of emergency cell phone calls.

D. O. T. RELOCATION

Mr. Hanson said the financial arrangements for DOT relocation would be discussed in a meeting to be held on June 7 and will be attended by Senator James Seward and representatives of NYS DOT and the County.  Trade off of properties on Third Street, Ithaca and at Cortland will also be discussed and the values are being figured out. 

SEQRA PROCESS

Ms. Shakarjian said she was in the process of reviewing the public comments received in response to the draft scope and putting all the information together for finalizing the scope for the draft EIS.

NYSTEC TASK 8: FCC LICENSE UPDATE

Ms. Shakarjian said that NYSTEC has reviewed the status of the licenses and a letter has been sent to FCC on April 30 for their renewal. FCC is expected to respond in 30 days. She said it is an annual exercise and FCC must be notified that the project is moving forward and the licenses would be utilized. She said Bush Electronics wants to swap certain frequencies with the County. NYSTEC’s input was sought and Bush has been informed that this seems to be a viable option and can be explored further. She also said that SBA wants to explore the opportunity of using the County’s optioned site in Lansing and this is being pursued. She is in touch with other companies and municipalities regarding co-location. 

REPORT ON STATE-WIDE NETWORK (SWN)

Mr. Whicher said that communication has been received from NYS that the Comptroller has rejected the RFQC process and the RFP process has been reinstated. He said that he has informed SWN that the County will follow its own schedule for the communications project. There should be no problem of integration with SWN even if the County selects a different vendor. An MOU would be drawn up subsequently stating the State’s share of the costs. He said the following projects needed to be integrated: the statewide system, Public Safety Communications System, public-private partnership, consolidated dispatch center, CISNET and other software systems.

SCHEDULE WITH MAJOR MILEPOINTS

A handout ‘PSCS Project Schedule’ giving timelines for the different tasks was distributed to the members. 
A brief discussion followed. Ms. Shakarjian said NYSTEC would soon be working on the RFP preparation. Mr. Lalley noted that the County system design is expected to be finalized by end-January, 2002 while the corresponding SWN timeline is end-May, 2002. Mr. Whicher mentioned that the CISNET project is being slowed down and there has been a change in concept from emergency services to a fully integrated communication system. 

COUNTY-TOWN ISSUES

It was MOVED by Mr. Lane, seconded by Mr. Penniman, and unanimously adopted by voice vote of members present, to hold an executive session on the Towers Project regarding county-town issues and potential litigation.

Accordingly, an executive session started at 12:45 p.m. and the meeting reconvened at 1:00 p.m.

The members discussed the invitation being extended to Towns today to participate in a communications project workshop to be conducted by a California company in order to facilitate a better understanding of the processes involved.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m. The next meeting will be held June 26, 2001 at noon in the Scott Heyman Conference Room.
 

Submitted by Ujjal Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator.