PRESENT: B. Blanchard, G. Totman, M. Lane, J. Lalley, T. Joseph, P. Penniman

STAFF: S. Whicher, County Administrator; M. Shakarjian, Planning Department; 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

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting opened at 12:07 p.m. 

ADDITIONS TO/DELETIONS FROM AGENDA

A revised agenda was distributed. There was no addition to or deletion from the agenda.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF SETEMBER MEETING

It was MOVED by Mr. Totman, seconded by Mr. Joseph, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the September 25, 2001 minutes.

COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

BUILDING COMMITTEE

Ms. Blanchard said the Building Committee met with the user group and discussed their questions and concerns such as parking facilities and size of break rooms. Mr. Lane mentioned that the Cayuga Heights Fire Station has a very good building which cost $2.20 million whereas our building is projected to cost $3 million. In view of this he suggested that our building costs and square footage requirements be reviewed. Mr. Lalley said he will endeavor to obtain comparable costs for a Cornell building. Ms. Blanchard pointed out that the figure of $3 million is for all construction-related costs and includes cost of furnishings. 

MOU

Ms. Blanchard said that she and Suzi Cook will meet with Dan Walker and Cathy Valentino to discuss all items pertaining to the Town of Ithaca. She also spoke of ongoing talks with Ithaca College on related issues. In reply to a question from Mr. Joseph, she said that it is her understanding that the County will be the owner of the building and requested Mr. Wood to speak to David Squires on this. Mr. Wood mentioned that if the County has to issue bonds, he believes that it will be necessary to retain ownership of the building.

D.O.T. RELOCATION

Ms. Blanchard said that there has been no change in the NYS budget situation and she has nothing to add at this point.

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATION PROJECT

DRAFT RFP

Ms. Blanchard requested the members for their comments on the Draft RFP already distributed to them. Mr. Wood clarified that the document is proposed to be put up to vendors and the public for their comments for a period of one month. He said that the following three appendices are still to be incorporated: Functional Specifications, Acceptance Test Procedures, and the Minimum Requirements any proposal must meet. Of these, the Functional Specifications are ready and Sal DiRaimo is working on the other two. He mentioned that each vendor would be asked to submit a Base Proposal for 95% In-street Portable Coverage along with two alternative proposals as follows: (1) for 95% In-street Mobile Coverage, and (2) Proposer’s Suggested Alternative. This will enable the County to review the various alternatives and their costs. Ms. Blanchard said that at the expiration of the comment period, the final RFP would be issued after incorporating any required changes. She also drew attention to the Procurement Schedule as given in page 4 of the Draft RFP. In response to Ms. Kiefer’s suggestions, Mr. Wood said he would expand on the project history and would restore language on the need for coordination with the Statewide Wireless Network.

It was MOVED by Mr. Totman, seconded by Mr. Lalley, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, that the COMCAP Committee authorizes staff to complete the Public Safety Communications Project Draft RFP along with its appendices and to release it for obtaining comments from qualified vendors and the public for a period of one month.

Ms. Skinner suggested incorporation of a cover sheet for the public explaining the purpose of the comment period. Mr. Wood thought there should be the same cover sheet for vendors and the public. She said that a press release could be sent out between November 7 and 9 regarding availability of the Draft RFP. She also spoke of working on an Op-Ed column on the progress of the project. She said the Draft RFP will be put up on the web and copies will be made available at public libraries and the Board of Representative office.

STATEWIDE WIRELESS NETWORK (SWN)

Ms. Blanchard said that she and Ms. Shakarjian attended the SWN Advisory Council meeting in Albany. She said she has already reported on this at the County Board meeting. Her report is attached. Ms. Shakarjian spoke on the effort toward educational outreach to State Representatives and local public safety agencies through the formation of an Educational and Outreach Committee by the SWN Advisory Council. Accordingly, letters will be sent out by the committee on SWN and about local government participation in the project. 

PAGING PROJECT

Mr. Lalley spoke of the responses to the RFQ sent out to four vendors on September 15. Motorola is willing to sell engineering services but it no longer undertakes paging projects. United Radio has quoted $425,000, which is a guesstimate. A more accurate cost estimate will be available once the system is defined. He said funding of $13,500 is required for the design stage but there is no approved budget for paging this year. He suggested spending out of the $700,000 now available for the Communications Capital Project. He said he would need approval from the COMCAP Committee to set up a contract with United Radio for design work. Meanwhile, he would work with members of the project team on some of the details and ascertain how much design work NYSTEC may have done already. Accordingly, it was decided that the COMCAP Committee will meet on November 20* at 4 p.m. to act on Mr. Lalley’s proposal. Mr. Lalley said that it is unlikely that any new towers would be required for the paging project. He mentioned that after allowing for contingency, the total project cost should come to within $600,000 rather than the $800,000 he suggested a month ago. The group agreed to this figure for budget purpose. Ms. Blanchard pointed out the need to discuss the mechanism for purchasing/financing of pagers.

*Meeting subsequently rescheduled for November 7. 

REPORT ON LITIGATION

Mr. Wood distributed the recent Court Decision on the litigation between the Towns and the County on the issues of the communications system and the Bostwick Road construction. He said that the Bostwick Road case was dismissed on merits in that the County’s interests outweighed those of the Towns. He said he must draft the order to be served on Towns by the County after getting the signature of the judge, to which the Towns must respond within 30 days. He did not think an appeal by the Towns would be viable. As regards the communications system, the court ruled that the case is not ready to be heard as the proposed locations of towers are not yet known. He expected a favorable decision for the County ultimately. 

COMMUNICATIONS CENTER DIRECTOR

Mr. Whicher said that there has been a preliminary selection of four candidates – two local and two out-of-state – out of 22 applicants. A few more are expected to be selected out of applications in response to the Internet advertisement. Interviews are scheduled on November 29 and 30. 

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 1:35 p.m. 
 
 
 

Submitted by Ujjal Mukherjee, Administrative Services Coordinator.