County emergency dispatch in need of repair

Engineer presents MACC board with solutions

MOSES LAKE — An engineer's report indicates that changes need to be made to Grant County's emergency dispatch system, but authorities still need to come up with the money to make changes to that system.

Board members of the Multi Agency Communications Center heard the second phase of a report Thursday that points out problems dispatch system management and maintenance and channel licensing.

Dean Hane, a consultant with Woodinville-based ADCOMM told the board Thursday that the MACC system is getting more expensive to maintain because of short-term budget decissions made in the last few years.

"There are some issues that need to be fixed up," said Dean Hane of ADCOMM Engineering, "and they are important issues."

The MACC center is made up of civilian dispatchers who handle emergency medical, fire and law enforcement calls for Grant County agencies.

Hane said that MACC needs some sort of system management structure in place, that would focus on all facets of the MACC dispatch system including budgetary, technical and operational tasks.

"Someone needs to be the traffic director," Hane said.

Hane said though that everyone involved at MACC already has a full-time job, and suggested rather that the board implement a co-management partnership with an outside agency.

"If you guys don't put some sort of management structure there," Hane said, "it's going to deteriorate to an unacceptable level."

Members of the Grant County Deputy Sheriff's Association recently made public complaints about radio coverage at MACC and officer safety in the field. The Deputy Sheriffs Association issued a five page letter of "no confidence" to the board and MACC Director Mary Allen during MACC's December board meeting.

The MACC board is in the process of drafting a letter in response to concerns of the Grant County Deputy Sheriff's Association. Grant County Sheriff Frank De Trolio, who was re-elected as chairman of the MACC board Thursday, said the letter would be presented to the Deputy Sheriff's Association in the next few days.

One of the concerns of the Deputy Sheriff's Association was an that instant playback recorder button that dispatcher could use when unable to copy radio transmissions was not working. MACC Director Allen said Thursday that maintenance had been done on the playback recorders and they were now working and have been rewired.

Hane also said Thursday that ADCOMM also found problems with site and system maintenance at MACC locations and violations with some of MACC's Federal Communications licenses.

MACC is currently in violation of a handful of its licenses according to ADCOMM, and Hane said that MACC can be subject to fines from the FCC. He suggested consolidating and sorting out as many of MACC's FCC licenses as they can. MACC has done a good job of renewing those licenses, Hane added, but warned of problems if MACC were to let a license lapse.

If one of MACC's FCC licenses were not renewed, Hane said it could take up to 14 months to get a new license. He added that during that time other groups can get on that specific frequency, meaning MACC would have to utilize another channel.

At Thursday's meeting, Grant County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy John Turley cited on specific problem with a licenses that had not been renewed. Turley said the GCSO only recently found out that two tactical channel licenses that have lapsed, and officially cannot be used by the department. He said that those channels would have been used to lighten the load of MACC in poor reception areas and when radio traffic is high, such as during concerts at the Gorge. Now, he said, his office could be

fined for using one of those channels.

Hane told the board that a maintenance contract for the 911 system has been expired for two years, but MACC and provider Day Wireless have agreed to continue operating under their expired contract on a month-to-month basis. Hane told the board that both sides were a little uncomfortable about how the maintenance was going, and added that it was probably not a

good business practice to operate on an expired maintenance contract. Hane also brought up alternatives to the contract such as in-house maintenance, partnering with the Grant County Public Utility District and bidding the contract out.

With regard to infrastructure repairs at MACC sites, Hane said MACC is bearing the brunt of infrastructure repairs when it doesn't always need to, citing situations where MACC has performed repairs when it was the responsibility of either a site owner or other group.

"The system is getting more expensive to maintain because of short-term budget decision a few years ago," Hane said.

ADCOMM suggested, Hane said, that MACC improve management of its sites.

Hane said for example that some sites currently have other tenants in them as well, which he said can create a vulnerability. One suggestion Hane had for MACC was to reserve a spot for themselves at sites in case MACC wanted to add another channel in the future.

"These sites are valuable assets to you guys," he said, "you really need to control and protect them."

ADCOMM's report states that to completely repair the MACC dispatch system would mean a cost of $6-7 million, and Grant County Sheriff's Turley said a similar report by Motorola cited similar recommendations.

Sheriff De Trolio said the MACC board has authorized the money to implement a system band-aid, but added that the board still wasn't sure yet where to get the money for a complete repair.

"We need money to implement the entire thing," De Trolio said.