Here’s how E-911 works

This letter is in response to Mr. Steve Currier’s comments in Sound Off last week.

The Lapeer County Central Dispatch Authority Board has been working on developing this project for the last three years. In that time, a lot of work and research was done that brought us to where we are today, and the decision to join the MPSCS as our primary communications system.

The MPSCS was the first statewide communications system in the United States. They get requests for tours from many other states and even foreign countries to see how this was accomplished. Currently there are more than 50,000 users on the system and growing everyday. The Michigan State Police make up less than 1 percent of those users.

The interoperability of the MPSCS is unparalleled by any other system that could be built on its own. On Lapeer County’s own radio system, we have very limited interoperability with our surrounding neighbors. We have one talkgroup between us and Oakland County (which is analog), one between us and Tuscola County, two between us and Sanilac County, none between us and Macomb and Genesee Counties, except through the MPSCS.

The user fees associated with the MPSCS are on a tiered scale. No one currently pays the $200 per radio, per year rate except for Lapeer County EMS, and they are working on reducing their fees to a lower level.

Currently these fees are paid by the individual department using the radio.

When Saginaw County moved to the MPSCS as their primary system, they brought infrastructure to the system and the user fees were waived for 10 years. Likewise, Genesee County also had their user fees waived for about 13 years. By the users adding infrastructure to the MPSCS, it bolsters their system with increased coverage, and in return they waive the user fees for a period of time. Lapeer County will negotiate the same type of deal to have our user fees waived as well.

The paging system for the fire service is not part of the MPSCS. That is an independent VHF system that will be built and maintained by the County of Lapeer Central Dispatch. It is a proposed 10- site system to ensure maximum coverage throughout all areas of the county. This will compensate for the currently lacking coverage of the aging system we have today.

Oakland County is on its own digital system, called Open Sky, which was started in 2002 and is not yet completed. Oakland County doesn’t have much interoperability with anyone else

CLEMIS (Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System) is not a radio system, but a localized records management system similar to AICS (Automated Incident Capture System), which is used by law enforcement in Lapeer County and much of the state to do their reports on. Both systems are irrelevant in the proposed millage request. Central Dispatch uses neither system, as we are not a lawenforcement agency.

The concern among the fire service in Lapeer County is not about the digital system’s abilities, but about the reliability of the current system. Our current system is at the end of its anticipated life expectancy and the VHF paging system is no longer supported for maintenance under contract along with the microwave system that links the current three tower sites together.

The nucleus of the UHF voice radio system is also no longer supported. All these unsupported systems are on a “as parts are available” status. We have already had to search the country for replacement microwave parts when the system as a whole was down for several days over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday.

The proposed digital system was designed with not only the fire service in mind, but for all public safety responders and ultimately the citizens of Lapeer County.

We are looking at having 97 percent in-building coverage countywide on a handheld radio. That means inside the majority of all homes and businesses, the digital system will work just fine. This is accomplished by adding the necessary towers in strategic locations throughout the county to increase the coverage.

We have applied for federal grant money, but one of the stipulations was that projects had to be “shovel ready,” and ours was not at that stage at the time. We have been in direct contact with Congresswoman Miller’s office, who is watching for the next batch of available grants that we can apply for. When and if we are granted any money, that money will be used to supplant the cost of the millage.

In addition to that, grants are competitive, meaning, that all 14 counties in our region must compete with each other for money out of the same pot. One county’s needs are weighed against that of another county’s needs, and point systems are developed to grade those needs.

This is just a quick summary of how it works, and also know that these processes take months to years to complete before any county or agency would actually come into possession of their grant request. Currently, we are just getting ready to open the 2008 Homeland Security Grant. The cycles are always years behind.

For example, our region is about finished up with the 2007 DHS grant for communications, and it only had approximately $3 million dollars to spend between 14 counties. That is the largest sum of money to come though the region.

Surcharge money is used to cover operational costs. It brings in just enough money to keep the doors open. A telephone surcharge could never generate the amount of money necessary to save up for such a large replacement project as we have need for today.

We are capped at $1.55 per line, which includes land line, cell phone and voice over IP phones. We also do not get 100 percent of those fees from the phone company. There is always a percentage of the people who do not or cannot pay their phone bill. Thus 9-1-1 does not get that share of the surcharge. Phone companies keep 2 percent for administrative costs.

The grant money that has been awarded to Lapeer County over the years has gone to purchase many new hybrid radios capable of both analog and digital systems, new in-car computers for law enforcement, and bidirectional antennas to bolster the MPSCS signal in the basement of the Emergency Operations Center.

It also has purchased the county’s mobile command vehicle and equipped it with the necessary items for all disciplines of public safety to use in times of major local emergencies. All of these things already have supplanted the cost of the proposed replacement project.

Director Martin personally invited Steve Currier while at the Dryden Township Board meeting to call him at any time to answer his questions. To date, he has not received a call from him. I again invite Mr. Steve Currier to call us or stop by the office for a tour and to give him the answers to all of his questions.

I encourage everyone to view our website for more information www.lapeercounty911. org or call us for a tour 810-667-0217.

Jeffrey Satkowski Systems Administrator Lapeer County Central

Dispatch