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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-17-2012-13 (2) =n-Evrmcz+ian =+em MEMORANDUM To: Orange County Board of Commissioners Frank Clifton, County Manager From: Michael S. Talbert, Assistant County Manager Date: April 9, 2012 Re: Progress of the Emergency Services Workgroup -Commissioner Gordon requested an update on the progress of the Emergency Services Workgroup. The Emergency Services Workgroup was created on January 24, 2012 and has held 4 meeting since January. Attached are the meeting summaries for the four meetings which provide details of the Workgroups discussions and recommendations. 2 Orange County, North Carolina Emergency Services Workgroup Meeting Summary January 31, 2012 Link Government Services Center Commissioner Earl McKee called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm, welcomed the committee and introduced those in attendance: Commissioner Valerie Foushee, Commissioner Earl McKee, Dr.Jane Brice, Captain Walter Horton, Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert, Chief Frank Montes de Oca, Chief Dan Jones, Chief Mike Tapp, Chief Matthew Mauzy, Ms. Mary .Parrish and Ms.Jane Cousins. • The Charge for the Emergency Services Work Group; approved by the Board of County Commissioners on January 24, 2012, will be to provide recommendations to the Board on how to best improve public safety and the emergency services delivery system in Orange County. The recommendations will include a review of available alternatives, the financial impact to the County, and an implementation timeline for the following functions that are an integral part of the Orange County Emergency Services delivery system: 1. VIPER system improvements. 2. Solutions relating to Fire Protection Districts, Fire insurance Districts and Fire Tax Districts. 3. System improvements for EMS ambulance response times including but not limited to equipment, staffing, facilities and/or strategic plan,to define data elements for meaningful analytical data as related to ambulance response time and to discuss and review that data. 4. Improvements for the E-911 Communications Center including but not limited to technology, equipment, staffing,training and/or strategic plan. 5. Compare Orange County Emergency Services to similar sized counties in North Carolina, including but not limited to staffing, equipment,technology, infrastructure, performance and costs. 6. The Fire Departments Strategic Plan. • Brief overview of VIPER System by Chief Montes de Oca: Problems with VIPER, originally designed and used for highway patrol communication, include dead spots in Orange County. Poor signal penetration of 800 MHz frequencies have been a known issue and are related to the characteristics of 800 MHz frequencies. 3 • Highlights of an overview of Orange County Emergency Services were given by Chief Montes de Oca beginning with the history of two EMS systems that merged in 2005 and how our present system has worked more recently towards making headway into reducing overtime hours as well as response times. One significant help to both problems has been the addition of ten new EMS positions approved by the Board of County Commissioners and the implementation of the Paramedic Academy in partnership with Durham Tech Community College, which allows Emergency Services to release medical personnel trained and ready two to three months ahead of previous training programs. • Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert briefed the workgroup on the fire tax and fire insurance district issue: Orange County is divided into Fire Districts, Fire Tax Districts with different rates of tax and Fire Services Districts. • Chief Dan Jones reported that the Orange County Fire Chief's Association has been working with the UNC School of Government since November 2011 on an initial draft of a strategic plan for solutions to the problems within Orange County. With help from a UNC graduate student,this draft is nearing completion and will possibly be presented to the Board of Commissioners in March, 2012. • Commissioner McKee asked the thoughts of the Committee regarding meeting frequency and time. The Committee agreed that the Emergency Services Workgroup would meet bi- weekly on Tuesdays at 4:00 pm beginning on February 14, 2012 at the Link Center. • Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert indicated that a consultant Solutions for Local Governments Inc. has been asked to develop a matrix of data points to analyze service delivery and other needs within the Orange County Emergency Services system to determine recommended solutions. Documents from the November 17th Board meeting were handed out to allow the Committee to review the proposed scope of services. • The Committee discussed prioritizing the list of six items. Dr. Brice suggested that the first two items be prioritized to allow for proper discussion and consideration, which would allow more accurate determination for the prioritization of the remaining list items. • The Committee determined that solutions related to Fire Protection Districts, Fire Insurance Districts and Fire Tax Districts with be the number one priority at the February 14th meeting. • VIPER system improvements will be number two priority. • The remaining functional areas are expected to fall into proper succession as time goes on. • Commissioner McKee adjourned the meeting at 5:35 pm. 4 Orange County, North Carolina Emergency Services Workgroup Meeting Summary February 14, 2012 Link Government Services Center Commissioner Valerie Foushee called the meeting to order at 4:03 pm, welcomed the committee, and asked those in attendance to introduce themselves: Dr.Jane Brice, Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass, Chief Dwane Hampton, Captain Walter Horton, Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert, Chief Frank Montes de Oca, Chief Dan Jones, Chief Tommy Holmes, Chief Mike Tapp, Chief Brian Baker, Chief Matthew Mauzy, and Ms.Jane Cousins. • Commissioner Foushee introduced the first topic of discussion: Fire Tax Districts, Protection Districts, Fire Insurance Districts and Fire Service Districts. Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert distributed maps showing how the geographic areas differ legally and in operational characteristics. He explained that because of the history of how the tax districts were created they are extremely difficult to change. Fire Service Districts could be changed relatively easily with the consent of the Fire Chiefs. The service responses to properties would not change because of mutual aid agreements which already exist. Changes in the boundaries of the Service Districts would bring about a decrease in insurance rates for those property owners who are presently negatively affected by their location of being outside the "six mile" insurance area. An example cited was how Eno Fire Department could provide service for properties in Caldwell's district and decrease the insurance rates for a number of homes within six miles of Eno's station. The Orange County Attorney is working on the final agreement between the departments and Orange County to improve insurance ratings in that particular area. • Assistant County Manager Talbert illustrated a possible solution to high insurance rates in parts of South Orange's district by contracting with Chapel Hill Fire Department. Changes in charges of the fire tax to some residents could be a concern because of an increase of possibly $.0025 to some residents, but the benefit to those citizens whose properties are now uninsurable would make a dramatic improvement. • Chief Hampton asked about downsides to any of the proposed changes. Chief Baker expressed concern that with these changes the fire department chiefs would lose control of their districts; something the fire chiefs want to prevent from happening. 5 Dr. Jane Brice agreed that with these arrangements would solve most of the "six mile" problems but not all of them. • Mr. Talbert gave an overview of how the addition of a substation in Orange Grove's Fire District could take about 400 homes from class 10 (uninsurable) to within six miles of a fire department. They already have the land and lease agreement and could be up and running within six months. Two substations in the Orange Grove's district could help about 700 landowners. Sheriff Pendergrass asked specifically if Orange Grove's new Station 2 will take care of JoMac Road. The response was "yes". • Commissioner Fouchee asked if the committee would like to make recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners that these changes be made. Chief Dan Jones made the motion to recommend to the BOCC to proceed with the construction of two substations in the Cane Creek Fire district by the Orange Grove Fire Department. Chief Montes de Oca seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved. • Chief Dwane Hampton made the motion to recommend to the BOCC that Orange County contract with Chapel Hill Fire Department to provide fire protection in the hydranted area of the Southern Triangle Fire District. The motion was seconded by Chief Walter Horton. Chief Montes de Oca suggested that North Chatham be contacted before the request is made. The motion was passed by a majority with one abstention by Chief Dan Jones and one opposed-Chief Bryan Baker. • Mr. Talbert introduced the last topic: "Comprehensive Assessment of Emergency Medical Services and E911 Communications Center". Steve Allen has conducted dozens of studies and developed strategic plans throughout North Carolina; is familiar with North Carolina fire and emergency services statutes; and can begin constructing a strategic plan in March with a 90-120 day delivery timeframe. Members of the group suggested that Mr. Allen appear at the next meeting to answer questions or field concerns. Mr. Talbert indicated he would contact Mr. Allen to see if he could attend. Motion made by Chief Jones and seconded by Chief Tapp. The vote was unanimous. • Chief Jones passed out a one-page overview of the Orange County Chiefs Association's strategic plan goals and Chief Baker read them to the group. • The next meeting is February 28th; 4:00 pm at the Link Center. The topics to be covered are the EMS/911 Strategic Plan discussion with Mr. Allen and an overview of the VIPER system. • Commissioner Foushee adjourned the meeting at 5:30 pm. 6 Orange County, North Carolina Emergency Services Workgroup Meeting Summary March 13, 2012 Link Government Services Center Commissioner Earl McKee called the meeting to order at 4:07 pm. Workgroup members in attendance: Commissioner Valerie Foushee, Commissioner Earl McKee, Dr.Jane Brice, Chief Dwane Hampton, Captain Walter Horton, Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert, Chief Frank Montes de Oca, Chief Dan Jones, Chief Bryan Baker, Chief Matthew Mauzy, and Ms.Jane Cousins. Commissioner McKee spoke of the amount and accuracy of data that will be collected in preparation for the EMS and 911 Communications study and the future changes that the study will likely bring. He introduced Steve Allen who will be leading the study by collecting and formatting data for this workgroup. Mr. Allen will be meeting with stakeholders to early on in the study. Throughout the course of the study, he will be reporting his findings to the workgroup monthly. When the study is completed the resulting report will be public information. The overall estimated time for the completion of the study will be eight to ten weeks. In response to Assistant County Manager Talbert's question, Mr. Allen stated that although they will dovetail,there will be two separates reports: one for EMS and one for 911 Communications. Chief Jones made a motion to move forward with the study which will yield two separate reports—one EMS report and one 911 communications report. Seconded by Chief Montes de Oca. Vote unanimous. There has been a meeting with North Chatham Fire Department staff regarding possible changes in their contract with Orange County in the Southern Triangle area. Any changes to contracts for service must be preceded by a year's notice to the agencies affected by the change as written in the contract. A map of the Southern Triangle area was displayed showing location of present hydrants and where others will be needed in the future. Chief Jones said there was no apparent rhyme or reason for the location of the current hydrants. It was also noted that some residential lots in that area are located well off the main road on very narrow pathways, some gravel roads, not easily accessible by a fire truck. The discussion of tax revenues and fire protection coverage continued as it was noted that North Chatham would need to continue to receive the same amount tax money that it is has been getting for its operation. Chief Jones stated that it will be important to define exactly who is covering an area and who is receiving the revenue. Chief Montes de Oca added that keeping track geographically of who is primary and who is secondary is an issue. As the areas and maps are changed it will result in a patchwork of CAD zones making it increasingly difficult to maintain consistent dispatching of primary, secondary units. Chief Jones said that Chapel Hill's Station 5 could cover the Southern Triangle area with the purchase of another apparatus and the addition of six new personnel. Dr.Jane Brice asked about the possibility of North Chatham constructing a station to serve that area. Michael Talbert pointed out that a new station built by North Chatham in Orange County would have to be approved by the Board of County Commissioners. Chief Montes de Oca stated that North Chatham is already struggling with the addition of other new stations. Commissioner McKee would not be comfortable with another county constructing a fire station inside Orange County. It is only a matter of time before Chapel Hill annexes that area of Orange County per Chief Jones. There is a need to obtain exact figures of tax values/revenues in the Southern area of Orange County. OWASA has priced new fire hydrants at a cost$6,000 each if added to a water main water that is already in place. It is not known if the needed hydrants are in areas where mains already exist. No progress can be made at this point without financial information. Chief Montes de Oca presented an overview of the VIPER system and shared with the workgroup the location of current towers and channels needed to bring all sites up to a minimum of 8 channels. The addition will reduce busy signals and assist in transmissions through county peripheral towers that are used by Orange County. The next Emergency Services Workgroup meeting will be March 27 at 4:00 PM. Chief Jones said the Chief's Association will present its strategic plan on March 22 to the BOCC and will be sharing this report with this workgroup at its next meeting. The agendas for the workgroup meetings are sent out on Fridays before the regularly scheduled meetings. The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 PM. DRAFT 8 Emergency Services Workgroup Meeting Orange County, North Carolina Link Government Services Center Minutes March 27, 2012 Commissioner Earl McKee called the meeting to order at 4:04 PM. Workgroup members in attendance: Commissioner McKee, Dr. Jane Brice, Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass, Captain James Nida, Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert, Chief F. R. Montes de Oca, Chief Dan Jones, Chief Mike Tapp, Chief Bryan Baker, Chief Duane Hampton, Chief Matthew Mauzy, Ms. Jane Cousins. Notes from the March 13 Emergency Services Workgroup were reviewed and approved with the deletion of the word "to" from the second paragraph, fourth line. It was noted by Commissioner McKee the Summary of the meeting are not the official minutes of the last meeting. Commissioner McKee began by referring to the 112 to 115 properties in Southern Orange County that either have enormous insurance charges or are without insurance coverage being more than six miles from their fire delivery service. Chief John Strowd, North Chatham Fire Department was invited to join the table to participate in the problem-solving discussion. Michael Talbert referred to his memorandum to Orange County Board of County Commissioners as he presented possible options and outcomes for the Southern Triangle Fire Protection Districts. Chief Dan Jones stated that he has discussed the situation with his Town Manager. One of the solutions is to ask those affected property owners to voluntarily requests annexation into the Town of Chapel Hill as a permanent long term solution to the insurance rate issue. This solution may require addition personnel and tankers to be added to Chapel Hill Fire Department. Michael Talbert will act quickly to arrange a meeting with the two home owners associations, Hunt's Reserve and Woods at Laurel Hill, to let the property owners know that a voluntary annexation is an option for them. Chief Dan Jones and Chief John Strowd will participate in these meetings with Mr. Talbert. Annexation will allow the affected homes to have a class 3 fire protection rating. There must be a one year's notification before any existing contract can be changed or cancelled. DRAFT 9 With any change the equation will be different for each homeowner. Each property owner's situation and associated costs will differ, most likely resulting in higher taxes and lower insurance rates with an overall savings for most. There will be unintended consequences for some home owners in the area. There are a few additional homes in the Zapata Road area that may possibly fall just outside the six-mile insurance restriction as well. Chief Mike Tapp will follow up using GIS tracking to confirm. An agreement between Eno Fire Department and Caldwell Fire Department is being proposed that will resolve homeowners' insurance issues in the Eno and Caldwell districts. Chief Mike Tapp, President of the Orange County Chiefs Association spoke of the goals and objectives of the Chiefs Association as presented to the BOCC. This Strategic Plan for the Provision of Emergency Services was created with the help of the UNC School of Government over a four month time span. Chief Montes de Oca presented a follow-up report regarding channel needs for existing VIPER towers and potential sites for additional towers. Mike Hodgson, Manager of the VIPER system for NCSHP reported that the channel upgrades as requested generally fall in line with his concurrence. Chief Montes de Oca suggested that the group could ask more detailed information regarding VIPER tower locations, coverage maps and channel upgrades of Mr. Hodgson when he attends the meeting April 10th. Anyone having questions for Mr. Hodgson should e-mail them ahead of time to Chief Montes de Oca in preparation for this meeting. Sheriff Pendergrass raised questions regarding the rights to add attachments to the VIPER tower on Eno Mountain. He cautioned the group that once any tower is purchased and built for the VIPER system it becomes the property of the State of North Carolina and we will have no say as to what is added to it. The Sheriff's Department has not experienced dead areas when using their radios outside of buildings. Most problems come with penetration of certain buildings. Chief Mauzy asked about coverage maps for proposed tower sites. Chief Montes de Oca stated that NCSHP is looking at current tower locations and will include coverage maps of proposed sites and may have the information available to the group within 3 weeks. Chief Blue and Mike Reitz spoke of the new dense-structure ordinance in Chapel Hill (excluding UNC Hospitals)that would require the builder of new structures to install amplifiers to allow for better radio reception. Chief Dan Jones spoke of the downside of the system as it must be set very carefully in a certain way that will not disrupt the entire VIPER system. DRAFT 10 Chief Montes de Oca asked Commissioner McKee and the group to consider a countywide ordinance requiring new construction to have radio signal repeater and amplification equipment installed to alleviate dead spots. Chief Bryan Baker identified radio reception problem areas the Eno and Caldwell areas. In some areas such as the Eno State Park area, ENO FD switches to conventional radios to ensure reception. In the interest of time Commissioner McKee decided to table the Capital Investment Plan 2012- 17 until the April 10,4:00 pm meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 5:44 pm Additional Attachment for 4/17/12 BOCC Meeting Information Item DRAFT Emergency Services Workgroup Meeting Orange County, North Carolina Link Government Services Center Summary April 10, 2012 Commissioner Earl McKee called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM. Workgroup members in attendance: Commissioner Earl McKee, Commissioner Valerie Foushee, Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass, Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert, Chief F. R. Montes de Oca, Chief Dan Jones, Chief Mike Tapp, Chief Bryan Baker, Chief Matthew Mauzy, Chief Walter Horton, Chief Duane Hampton, MS Jane Cousins. • Summary notes of the March 27th meeting were read and approved with two corrections. • Commissioner McKee introduced Mike Hodgson, Manager of the VIPER system for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. He explained that VIPER-Voice Inoperability Plan for Emergency Responders-is the highway for emergency communications and is presently near the 65,000 user mark - its maximum. VIPER must migrate to the next level. VIPER is managed by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, but not the owner of 95% of the towers that cover the 44,000 square miles in North Carolina. With more groups joining and more radios being purchased, more towers must be added to the system to keep it current. North Carolina has the largest VIPER coverage in the nation second only to Michigan. Grant monies will be used to expand VIPER into the western part of North Carolina but not to add more towers in our area. In response to questions, Hodgson explained that 8 channels seem to be the best number for good and consistent coverage. In response to Chief Montes de Oca's question, a balanced system means there is the same number of channels per tower site within the subsystem to reduce busy signals. The way the system is designed and built, a total failure is rather difficult. Emergency generators will run three to four days when needed. Hodgson advised that purchasing a new tower or adding channels is a good investment because VIPER will provide all the necessary maintenance. Radios need to switch to the Omni link multi zone feature because of future changes. In response to questions regarding what/whose equipment is on the Eno Mountain tower, Mr. Hodgson stated that he does not have the answer. The equipment in question would have to be disconnected to see whose service was terminated. DRAFT Chief McCracken and George Hare are working with VIPER to solve the technological problems with Motorola regarding penetration in some buildings on UNC campus. Chief Montes de Oca spoke of the need for Orange County to have in place an ordinance dealing with radio penetration in new buildings. Mike Hodgson advised that every radio in the system will physically have to be touched to be re- programmed to bring the radios into current technology. He advised Chief Mauzy to let VIPER know of any changes made to SORS radios before the reprogramming takes place. Hodgson spoke of ways to obtain optimum performance by controlling the number of radios and the number of talk groups, talk groups being the most important to control. • Commissioner McKee thanked Mike Hodgson for his presentation of information regarding VIPER. • Moving to the topic of the status report to the BOCC meeting on April 17t'', Michael Talbert listed the four options dealing with the 112 properties outside the six mite radius in the Southern district of Orange County. 1. Annexation by the town of Chapel Hill of the 112 properties 2. Doing nothing immediately except notifying and 112 homeowners of a plan to have the fire departments operate under their current contracts until new contracts could be finalized to start one year from now 3. Keeping the fire protection districts as they are and raising the tax rate to 7.5 cents to satisfy the financial needs of Chapel Hill 4. Splitting the Southern district into two different service areas and tax districts. • Commissioner McKee stated that we have reached the point of no return because the completion of the next budget year is close at hand. It was McKee's suggestion to go with option two and notify Carrboro, Chapel Hill and North Chatham Fire Departments that contracts will change in one year. This will allow enough time to make a more informed decision as to exactly how to handle the dilemma of huge insurance bills for the 112 property owners. Any other decision would require public hearings, Chapel Hill Town Council meetings and home owner meetings. He was not in favor of making a hasty decision. Chief Jones pointed out that the home owners' association could at any time volunteer to request annexation by the Town of Chapel Hill. • In response to a question from Chief Tapp, County Attorney John Roberts stated that new contracts with the Fire Departments will supersede any current contracts that exist. DRAFT • Chief John Stroud led a discussion regarding option 3. It was determined that there would not be enough time to have the necessary meetings to finalize the details before this year's budget session is completed. • Commissioner McKee called for a motion to be made on one of the four options as presented by Michael Talbert so that a status report can be made to the BOCC. Chief Bryan Baker made the motion to choose option 2, maintaining status quo, doing nothing immediately except giving notification to the 112 homeowners and the fire departments involved of the plan to finalize new contracts with one year from now which would allow the homeowners to be within a six mile radius of their fire service deliverer. Chief Mike Tapp seconded the motion. After discussion the motion passed unanimously with a vote of 6 yes with one abstention. • Commissioner McKee invited any workgroup member present to write a synopsis of the presentation by Mike Hodgson and submit it to him. The next meeting of the Emergency Services Workgroup will be on April 24 at 4:00 in the Link Center with two items being of primary interest on the agenda: 1. Capital Investment Plan 2012-2017 2. Southern Triangle Fire District • The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 pm.