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Home My WebLink About03/29/2012 TECH March 29, 2012 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES BOARD HELD ON March 29, 2012 The Regular Session of the TECHNOLOGIES BOARD of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 6:30 pm on the 29th of March, 2012 at CITY HALL, in the City Managers Conference Room, City Hall, 6800 MAIN STREET, THE COLONY, TEXAS, with the following roll call: Bill Swink present Stephen Hoffman absent Joye Grube present Lyle Snider present Tim Tomlinson present Allen Harris, Council Liaison absent R.on Goldsmith, Radio Systems Manager Ron Timmons, City of Plano Bobby Thompson, DFW Communications Sherwin Thomas, Motorola Solutions Becky Smartt, Motorola Solutions With four out of five members present a quorum was established and the following items were discussed. 1.0 Call Meeting to Order: 6:34 P.M. Meeting called to order at 6:34 1.1 Announcements None 2.0 DISPOSITION OF MINUTES Acceptance of Technologies Board Minutes for a meeting held on February 06, 2012. 3.0 CITIZEN INPUT None 1 March 29, 2012 4.0 AGENDA ITEMS 4.1 Receive presentation, discuss, and give staff direction on Police Department CRASH IDP system. (Chandler, Police Department) Captain Chris Chandler was unable to attend the meeting so Captain Chris Plemons presented information on the new CRASH IDP system. Plemons informed the board that the new CRASH IDP system will enable the Police Department to submit accident reports online to the Texas Department of Transportation. The Police Department will not store accident information locally, although they will have access to the information via a web portal at any given time. There is no cost to the new system and if successful it has the potential to save the Police Department $14,000 annually, which is an estimate of what they are paying now to their current vendor to keep their accident records up to date. The process to implement takes about 4-6 months and the state provides all the training. The information can be uploaded to the state directly from mobile personal computers in the field. The new process will also afford residents the opportunity to download accident information directly from the state at any given time, versus requesting it from the Police Department directly. There's no loss in functionality and the Police Department is not under contract. Bill Swink made a motion to approve the Police Department CRASH IDP system. Lyle Snider seconded the motion. Motion carries. 4.2 Receive presentation, discuss, and give staff direction on Police Department 800Mhz Radio Conversion. (Plemons, Police Department) Captain Chris Plemons first informed the board of the history of the Police Department's radio system. Prior to 2004 TCPD resided on the Denton County 800mhz System and eventually the system became unsustainable due to TCPD growth and Denton County's inability to expand. In 2004 the city put in a temporary fix by moving to an UHF system to keep the cost down with the understanding that it would have to be addressed at a later time when frequencies became available. Initially this was proposed for both the Police and Fire Departments. Captain Plemons then discussed the problems now, which include: using the UHF system for PD prevents communication with any other agencies including the Fire Department; Radio System Patches did not work as expected; FCC regulations require narrow banding of all UHF and VHF by 01/01/2013; limited coverage outside of city limits; known coverage issues will occur; and further FCC regulation in 2017 will cut bandwidth to 6.25mhz. The existing dispatch radio system is 12 years old, it's out of manufacture, out of the service period and beyond end of life. The PD's goals are to re- establish interagency communication, implement a long term communications package and maximize city investment allowing the greatest flexibility possible for the future. Captain Plemons then discussed the three choices to meet those goals, which included: do nothing but narrow band existing UHF radios, build our own 700/800mhz Radio System, or join an existing radio system that already has coverage for The Colony. The first option would not work because there would still be coverage issues, it does not address communications issues and the current dispatch radios and consoles are beyond end of 2 March 29, 2012 life. The second option, building their own system, would be way too costly. The PD recommends the third option, joining another system because it provides the coverage and communication needed, it is preferred by the federal and state government and will provide significant cost savings and potential of grant funds. They considered several existing systems including Denton County, Carrollton, Lewisville, Frisco and Plano/Allen. After researching all the options they recommend Plano/Allen because it has excellent coverage and capacity; there's no buy in, only subscriber and administration fees; has capacity for any TC needs including FD for the future; there are two towers very close to TC; the current cities on the system are Plano, Allen, Murphy, Wylie, Parker and Lucas; and this system will get The Colony past all federal mandates. The components of the project include: purchase of Mobile and Handheld radios, including Animal Control, SRT Vehicle, EOC, and command trailer; upgrade of existing dispatch consoles and associated radios/equipment and the addition of a fourth workstation; and an upgrade of the current radio/phone recording system. The PD recommends Motorola equipment (radios and consoles) and will need approximately 99 radios. It will take approximately 4-6 months to implement and should be functional by January 1, 2013. Lyle Snider made a motion to approve the Police Department radio system. Tim Tomlinson seconded the motion. Motion carries. 4.3 Receive presentation and discuss projects approved by Technology Board A. Jail telephone system (Plemons) Captain Plemons discussed the new jail telephone system. He informed the board that PD can record calls and can program it according to their needs ( i.e. first call free or first two calls free, etc.). The company provides all the equipment and maintenance, as they are receiving a percentage of each call. The PD also receives a percentage of each call and the revenue received fi•om this new system has tripled for the Police Department. B. Fiber optic installations (Maker) Bruce Maker informed the board that the fiber optic installation has been completed at One Harris Plaza, CVB building, PD to Fire Station #2 and aquatics building (part of N. Colony widening project) and there are plans to install fiber optics along main street from 121 to Stewarts Creek Bridge, along Plano Parkway and Memorial. Bruce handed out a map indicating the completed fiber optics and plans for future fiber optics. C. Windows 2008 migration (Maker) Bruce Maker- informed the board that our Windows 2008 migration process faced several hardware issues. With all of these issues having been resolved, we are moving towards starting the migration project. 3 March 29, 2012 D. Wireless meter reading (Maker) Bruce Maker informed the board that the new system is doing very well and all are pleased with it. The vendor monitors it fi•equently and informs the city of any issues. E. City wide phone system replacement (Maker) Bruce Maker informed the board that the new system has been implemented and the city is all on one type of system. It's been a success. Joye Grube made a motion to adjourn the meeting. 5.0 ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:47 p.m. APPROVED: Joye G b Chai e Christie Copling, Recording Secretary e 4