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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 09-13-2022911 COMMUNICATIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE September 13, 2022 At a Special Called Meeting of the 911 Communications Oversight Committee on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 10:30 a.m., in the Commission Chambers of City Hall located at 300 South 5th Street the following Committee members were present: Commissioner Carol Gault, Commissioner Eddie Jones, Jewel Jones, and Dr. Irvin Smith and Kevin Kauffeld. Kevin Kauffeld presided as Chairperson. City Clerk Lindsay Parish took the minutes of the meeting. UPDATE ON RFP PROCESS Chairperson Kauffeld distributed packets to the Commission containing the draft Request for Proposals (RFP) from Federal Engineering with the instructions not to copy or distribute. Chairperson Kauffeld asked City Manager Daron Jordan to give an update on the RFP process. City Manager Jordan relayed that he and Deputy Judge Executive Steve Doolittle met for a couple hours within the last week to begin the review of the RFP. The document is large and technical and they did not make it through the entire RFP during their meeting. They plan to meet again in the next week to continue the review. They would like additional clarity on how to interpret certain specifics in the RFP. Generally, City Manager Jordan and Deputy Judge Executive Doolittle felt that the RFP is well prepared, highly technical, and allows vendors the flexibility to propose the best way to achieve industry standards. Chairperson Kauffeld asked the Committee members to review the RFP and respond with their comments to City Clerk Parish. The Committee discussed different deadlines for review comments. Commissioner Carol Gault suggested having comments back by the end of the week. Commissioner Eddie Jones would like to have the benefit of seeing City Manager Jordan and Deputy Judge Executive Doolittle’s comments before he reviews and provides comments. City Manager Jordan would like for his and Deputy Judge Doolittle’s review to be done within the next week. Commissioner Eddie Jones believes that the McCracken County Fiscal Court needs to review the RFP before it is released. Commissioner Carol Gault let the Committee know that it is not the practice of the City Commission to review Requests for Proposals before they are released. It was discussed that the City Commission will be the RFP issuing agency. OTHER 911 DISCUSSION Chairperson Kauffeld asked Commissioner Gault to speak about the progress on 911 governance. Commissioner Gault let the Committee know that there are multiple options on how the governance could be organized. Options include a board setup similar to the Join Sewer Agency, or a more basic structure under the Police Department, Sherriff Department or County Attorney. One of the larger questions is funding, because the desired funding structure could impact which governance option is pursued. For example, the City has the ability to add a usage fee through Paducah Water because it is a city-owned utility, but this might not be an option under a different governance structure. 911 COMMUNICATIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE September 13, 2022 The current Joint Sewer Agency board has a total of seven (7) members, with two (2) being elected officials and five (5) being citizens appointed by the Mayor and Judge Executive. There are term limits and terms are staggered. Commissioner Gault offered to provide a template of the Joint Sewer Agency establishing ordinance. The Committee asked that Stacey Blankenship attend the September 26th meeting to discuss governance. Police Chief Laird informed the Committee that Kentucky State Police (KSP) does an audit every three (3) years. When 911 was under a 911 director instead of a sworn officer, KSP informed the City that structure was not in compliance with KSP and FBI regulations. At that time 911 was moved under the Police Chief. If it had not been reorganized, 911 would have lost access to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). NCIC provides information across state lines. Commissioner Eddie Jones asked how much of the Police Chief’s time is taken by oversight of 911. Police Chief Laird responded that 911 is a division of the Police Department with a full- time 911 Manager. Said 911 Manager reports to the Assistant Chief of Operations, who in turn reports to the Police Chief. The 911 Manager spends upwards of 65 to 70 hours a week overseeing 911. The Assistant Chief of Operations spends about half of his time overseeing 911. A lot of work goes into running 911 and the Police Chief spends time each day on the oversight of 911. The Police Department oversees the 23 employees that work in the 911 division. It is a demanding and stressful job and takes a great deal of time and oversight. The operations of 911 are better than they have been in the past. Commissioner Eddie Jones asked the Police Chief if he could speak to any fallout which would occur if 911 operations were moved under McCracken County Sherriff’s Department. Police Chief Laird encouraged Commissioner Jones to discuss that with the McCracken County Sherriff. Commissioner Gault let the Committee know that from 2010-2016 there was a nine (9) to eleven (11) person board that managed 911. In the last few years of that type of organization, the board was essentially functioning as the director of 911 and Attorney Stacey Blankenship served in a capacity similar to what would be expected of a Human Resources Manager. It was a lot of work on the board to maintain that organizational setup. It is imperative to have a trained professional hired to direct 911. Essentially, it is full-time crisis management. The Committee discussed the potential impact on the employees of 911 if it were to shift to be under a different organization. Employees of 911 are difficult to find and employees are hearing these conversations and wondering about the security of their jobs. They discussed the Committee’s role and function in understanding and determining day-to-day governance and the chain of command. Commissioner Gault offered that Joint Sewer Agency employees report to the JSA director and employment decisions do not come to the City or the County. Additionally, if governance changes, that may have an impact on employee retirement. 911 COMMUNICATIONS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE September 13, 2022 Commissioner Eddie Jones commented that building 911 bigger and having more counties be part of it, makes 911 less expensive to the taxpayers. He asked about how the governance piece can be created in a way that would be attractive for new users of the system. The Committee asked City Clerk Parish to reach out to Stacey Blankenship to create a memo about potential governance options, the impact of those options on fee collection capabilities, and potential impacts on employee retirement. If possible, the committee would like something to review before the next meeting. ADJOURN Jewel Jones offered motion, seconded by Dr. Irvin Smith, to adjourn the meeting. All in favor. TIME ADJOURNED: 11:15 a.m. ADOPTED: September 26, 2022