|
June 26, 2001 - NOON - SCOTT HEYMAN CONFERENCE ROOM
PRESENT: B. Blanchard, P. Penniman, G. Totman, M. Lane EXCUSED: J. Lalley, T. Joseph 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; Ed Inman, Supervisor, Town of Danby CALL TO ORDER The meeting opened at 12:01 p.m. ADDITIONS TO/DELETIONS FROM AGENDA The group decided upon the following additions to the agenda.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY MEETING It was MOVED by Mr. Penniman, seconded by Mr. Lane and unanimously adopted by voice vote of members present to approve the May 22, 2001 minutes with the recommended changes. COMMUNICATIONS CENTER: BUILDING COMMITTEES Ms. Blanchard referred to the questions raised at the last meeting regarding
payment made to Egner Associates. She said that the payment of $1,100 related
to an earlier contract arranged by Ms. Boodley prior to January 2001. Holt
Architects were asked to do some work by the 911 Committee on the Ithaca
College Public Safety Building as an alternative site for the Communications
Center and this was paid for by Ithaca College. The County contracted with
Egner for a comparable piece of work at the Fire Station. Mr. Whicher said
that currently there is a contract for $35,000 with Egner for the schematic
design phase. (N.B. Follow-up after the meeting adjourned indicates
that the $1,100 amount was an authorized payment to T.G. Miller for a survey
of the South Hill site for the current
Mr. Withiam reported that agreement on square footage has been reached for the Conference Center and the Operations Center. He said Egner is working on drawings and another meeting is being planned with the ComCap Building Working Group. Mr. Whicher mentioned that a draft MOU has been sent out to the Town of Ithaca, City of Ithaca, Ithaca Fire Department and Ithaca College and responses are awaited. He said copies of the MOU will be distributed along with comments of the recipients. D. O. T. RELOCATION Ms. Blanchard said that the June 7 meeting was well attended and included representatives from the offices of Senator James Seward and Assemblyman Martin Luster. The status of money for relocation in different lines in the State Budget was discussed at that meeting. DOT would like the project to move forward as quickly as possible, however, the money for the relocation will not be available till the State budget is passed. Meanwhile, it has to be decided who will be the recipient of the funds as DOT is not an eligible applicant. The possibility of having the County IDA be the recipient is being weighed against having the County be the recipient. Mike Stamm is researching this and will report on his findings soon. In response to a question from Ms. Kiefer, Ms. Blanchard said an appraisal of the Third Street parcel had been made and is available in the county Planning office. No appraisal has been made of the Cortland site, which is owned by General Services Administration. PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT: RFP DEVELOPMENT Ms. Shakarjian said that a working group of ten has been set up to evaluate the criteria for RFP development and its first meting is at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. A draft giving the functional specifications has been distributed to the members of the group. She planned to have four meetings, on a 10 to 14 day schedule because there is a lot of information in the draft that members have to agree upon. She said she expected the RFP to be ready by end August. STATE-WIDE NETWORK (SWN) UPDATE Mr. Whicher said that the meeting with SWN scheduled a week ago has been postponed to July 12. SWN is 30 days behind its schedule. He said that the County can proceed as per its own schedule with reimbursement by the State at a later date but the State’s intent to reimburse needs to be confirmed in writing. All indications are that the County could use the technology offered by M/A Com and still be compatible with the SWN system. To clarify the complex arrangements and partnerships being considered, Mr. Whicher is developing a Project Overview Report, detailing how the various pieces fit together. This will be distributed with the minutes. EXPLORATION OF M/A COM AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES Mr. Whicher said he is in the process of understanding the M/A Com system and the extent to which they can meet our needs. He said he is looking for a solution that ties all our communications systems together under one unified system. He referred to the Lancaster County, PA website where a lot of relevant information is available. The State of Pennsylvania has purchased the M/A Com system which is functionally similar to the Motorola system but it is potentially less expensive. Ms. Shakarjian said that in order to explore other opportunities, presentations would be given by different providers of communication services on July 9 and 16 in the Borg Warner Room of the Tompkins County Public Library. Nextel, PadCom, M/A Com and Motorola have been invited. A separate communication with specific times for these presentations will be forthcoming. MUNICIPAL OUTREACH AND WIRELESS WORKSHOP Ms. Shakarjian said that a wireless planning workshop featuring the consultant team of Kreines & Kreines, a California firm, would be held on July 30, 4-7 p.m., in the Borg Warner Room of the Public Library. She is in the process of outlining exactly what the workshop would cover but the purpose is to provide assistance to local governments in strengthening their cell tower ordinances. The EMC and the Municipal Officials Association have agreed to be consponsors of this workshop with the County. Ms. Blanchard asked if the Municipal Officials Association had formally agreed to acting as co-sponsors. Ms. Shakarjian stated that it had. The group briefly discussed the pros and cons of conducting a survey of municipalities in order to ascertain their preferences on tower siting and to better understand their concerns. Ms. Shakarjian noted that the town ordinances do not provide any guidance on preferred location of towers. Some of the members felt only responses of a general nature would be available. Mr. Whicher said that if the preference of the municipalities was for fewer but larger towers, this criterion could be used in guiding vendors and deciding upon a proposal. Mr. Totman pointed out the risks of further misunderstandings. It was decided by the group that Ms. Shakarjian and Ms. Skinner would work on a draft survey to be vetted by the COMCAP Committee before a determination as to its use is made. SCHEDULE REVIEW Ms. Blanchard said that revised PSCS Project Schedule will be distributed along with the minutes. NEW BUSINESS Ms. Blanchard said that in view of the vendor presentations, which will take a lot of time, there would be no COMCAP Committee meeting on July 24. It was decided by the group to hold a COMCAP business meeting on July 9, 9-10 a.m., in the Borg Warner Room of the Public Library, to be followed by the presentations. Ms. Skinner stated that a Public Safety Communications Project Progress Update would be prepared for the Ithaca Journal covering the various activities since February. POTENTIAL LITIGATION WITH TOWNS It was MOVED by Mr. Penniman, seconded by Mr. Totman, and unanimously adopted by voice vote of members present, to hold an executive session on the Towers Project regarding potential litigation with Towns. Accordingly, an executive session started at12:52 p.m. and the meeting reconvened at 1:20 p.m. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 1:21 p.m.
Submitted by Ujjal Mukherjee,
Administrative Services Coordinator.
|