CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Olson called the meeting to order at 7:30 AM

ROLL CALL

Board members present:

Chairman Olson, Feithen, Hanson, Leoni, Russell, Rosemier, and Suppeland.

Board members absent: Bowman, Pettit, and Riddle.

Guests Present:

 Lt. Al Newby, DeKalb County Sheriff's Police; Brent Tillman, DeKalb Police Department;

Jim Feyerherm, Starved Rock Communications; Glenna Johnson, GeoComm, Jim Tollakson, Verizon; Joan BerkesHanson, and Sheila Santos, IMO.

Also Present: Charles Kross, Coordinator

AGENDA

The Chairman asked for any amendments to the agenda. Kross asked to add a discussion by Brent Tillman regarding a study for a regional interoperability study. A motion to approve the agenda as amended was made Suppeland, and seconded by Leoni.

MINUTES

A motion to approve the minutes of the July 7, 2004 meeting was made by Russell and seconded by Rosemier. The motion passed.

OLD BUSINESS:

¨ Treasurer’s Report:

A motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Leoni, and seconded by Russell.

There was no discussion. The motion passed unanimously.

· Bills Not Previously Approved: From Sandwich: 1. Dixon Ottawa Communications $280; Word Systems Service $2168.69

A motion was made by Rosemier to approve the two bills. Russell seconded it. The motion passed unanimously

· Bills:

A motion to pay the bills was made by Rosemier and seconded by Suppeland. A roll call vote was taken: Feithen Y Hanson Y Leoni Y Rosemier Y Russell Y Suppeland Y Olson Y. The motion passed.

¨ Mapping Project

1. Kross reported that he purchased a jump drive to be used when he is at the Sheriff’s Department working on ALI discrepancies.

2. Sheila Santos from DeKalb County IMO gave a report on the progress being made on getting the data entered.

·

3. Jim Tollakson from Verizon reported that everything was installed with the exception of the three monitor trees at DeKalb Police Department. That should be completed this week.

· County Fire Radio Committee – Russell discussed the Starved Rock Communications proposal from last meeting. He said he feels the committee doesn’t have enough expertise or time to study the plan. He presented it to an acquaintance that he judges to be well informed in this area. The friend examined the proposal and felt it was okay. Russell recommended going forward with the proposal. Rosemier asked if there was another tower that could be utilized like the one on Route 23 south of DeKalb. Feyerherm said that it was only 180 feet tall. The one he proposes is 380 feet tall. This system would mirror the DeKalb County Sheriff's Police radio. Costs would be about $400 per month for tower rental, and telephone lines costing approximately $90 – 100 per month. An additional new transmitter would cost around $22598 including licensing, hardware and installation.

Russell moved to approve the new transmitter. Rosemier seconded. Discussion followed. Hanson mentioned that there has been discussion of a total, county wide radio change. He questioned if this project went forward, would there later be a change of direction, making this project unnecessary. Russell said changes could be made, but this project would not be wasted or made unnecessary. Feyerherm said that unless there was a complete changeover to 800 Mgh, this tower would be used for any VHF system, including digital and voice pagers. Feithen expressed concern that the DeKalb taxpayers would again be subsidizing a major purchase for the other communities’ Fire Departments.

Hanson moved to table the motion until the next meeting. Feithen seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

· County Fire Radio Report

Feyerherm reported on the state of the Fire Radio system. He said that Tim Hughes from AT Cybersystems had contacted Motorola for help with the Kirkland tower interference. They recommended a setting change, which subsequently took care of the interference problem. Feyerherm said that he had installed the new card in the UPS, and that the fan had been installed in the building. He reported that the Village of Somonauk is working on establishing a radio shack at the tower site. He reminded the Board that the Fire radios are on the side of that tower, because the Village did not want to have welding on the top. He said that with the antenna on the side, the coverage is diminished, the antenna gets weakened, and it gets out of alignment. There has been a change in the position of Somonauk, and they will now allow the antenna on top of the tower. He said to move it will cost around $6600, most of which is labor for the tower workers. This change would make the site similar to Waterman’s. Newby said the Sheriff’s Department has been receiving more complaints from Somonauk and Leland Fire Department’s about the radio and pager reception. Hanson moved to allow Feyerherm to proceed ahead with the project. Rosemier seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Newby asked if the Fire radio is put on the tower on Keslinger Road, would the connections be able to be made by a microlink rather than telephone wire. Feyerherm said that he would try to determine if the Keslinger site is in the line of sight from the Sheriff’s office, which would be required for microlink. He said that it might cost roughly $30,000 for such a link. One problem the Sheriff’s Department has with their equipment on Keslinger is that the telephone wires servicing the site are old and it is unlikely that they will be replace in the near future. Feyerherm said that he has talked to Scott Gibb of Verizon, and they are looking at other solutions, possibly including digital. Water in the cables however causes problems for digital. He said that the old WLBK tower might be a possibility but the radio room is infested with rodents and he would not recommend it.

Hanson asked if the microlink would also be capable of carrying the DeKalb County Sheriff's Police radio. Feyerherm said that it would.

Feyerherm reported that there have been some intermittent failures at the Genoa tower. He has tested the system with no negative results. He believes it may be caused by wildlife blocking the signal. He will investigate further.

NEW BUSINESS

· Regional Interoperability Assessment – Brent Tillman presented some letters and pamphlets, and explained that Boone County is contracting for an interoperability assessment, and has invited other regional agencies to participate at a cost of $1000 per agency. The study would determine the feasibility of establishing a Virtual Private Network of radios, cell phones and other communication devices, within the region. Rosemier moved to pay $1000 to participate in the program. Suppeland seconded. There was no further discussion. A roll call vote was taken. Feithen Y Hanson Y Leoni Y Rosemier Y Russell Y Olson Y. The motion passed unanimously.

¨ Participating Agency Requests  None

¨ PSAP Administrators' Report – The Administrator met but have not yet completed the updated protocols.

¨ Persons to be Heard from the Floor – No one

¨ Coordinator’s Report

1. WETSA Funds  CMS and the ICC have been working closely to ensure a seamless change over for collection and distributions of the wireless funds. The ICC has several people assigned to this function and both agencies feel it will be complete in the near future, with few problems.

ADJOURNMENT

Rosemier moved to adjourn the meeting, and was seconded by Suppeland . The motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 9:01 A.M.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________

Charles Kross, Coordinator