E-911 board approves budget, discusses storage facility with DFD, elects new officers

Vice Chairman Tom Reasons conducted the meeting in Chairman Benny Spain's absence.

The board's total operating revenue for the upcoming year is expected to be $313,000, with $150,000 from emergency service telephone charges and $163,000 from TECB wireless and operational funding. The total operating expense will be $189,755 with a depreciation of $176,000. The net operating income/(loss) including capital expenditures is $132,135.

The board voted unanimously to pass the 2009-2010 budget by roll call vote.

Next, Emergency 911 Communications Director Mark Grant responded to retired DPD Chief Bobby Williamson's question about the board's new storage building.

Grant said the city has given the board approval to build a building adjacent to the water treatment plant off of Mall Boulevard, but they were waiting on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be drafted to build the building and a proposal to be made by DFD Chief Bob Veal for a building on the same site.

Veal said his department had budgeted for a storage building to be built at the same location, without knowing about the board's plan to build there. Dyersburg Mayor John Holden called Veal and asked him if he could work on combining the two buildings together.

Veal's design is for a 50-by-70-foot building. The building will have three bays -- the board will use one and the DPD will use the remaining two. It will be designed to store the E-911 trailer and truck. Veal said they have items sitting in the sun at Station No. 3 they need to get inside.

The proposal called for the E-911 board to pay to build the storage building. The city would then provide the land, pay the insurance and utilities and maintain the building.

"It would be cheaper on everybody to do that," said Veal. "We can look after the property, look after the utilities, look after the truck, and look after the building. The whole nine yards. ... We don't need to build two storage buildings out there on the lot."

Williamson said it is a win-win situation for the city and the board.

Reasons asked Veal if he would consider contributing some of the money the DPD received from the city to build the storage building to defer some of the board's costs.

Veal responded he would if they needed to but said it goes back to the mayor about the upkeep and giving the land to them and insurance.

Grant said he would see to it to the board's and the city's interests will be covered.

DPD Capt. Rusty Hilliard said they are also applying for a grant to put a four-bay firehouse on the site.

Reasons said the city board had already appropriated the DFD approximately $40,000 for the building and the board was discussing between $75,000 and $80,000 on the board's part.

"They are going to have two bays we're going to have one and I don't think it would hurt if they contributed a little bit of their (DFD) construction money," said Reasons.

Hilliard will take care of getting the specifications and will present it to Grant and the board.

No price estimate could be given and would require a bit more research. Hilliard said the DFD is mainly concerned about their equipment freezing and if the board needed to add air conditioning it would increase the price of the building.

Reasons said the board's $80,000 for their building idea would have covered the cost of a building if they already had land to build on.

The board may be posed to decide who should build the building. If the city builds the building they will be required to hire a contractor. If the board builds it then they are not subjected to the same requirement.

Williamson and Reasons agreed they needed to speed up the process.

The board approved Veal to draft an MOU, paperwork and figures to present to the board for final approval by a unanimous decision.

Next, Grant told the board the Tennessee Municipal League had written a letter to the Dyer County 911 District congratulating them for their efforts. The league did an inspection on their records, control measures and their budget and did not find anything wrong. They congratulated the district on their safety, liability and loss-control measures.

Grant also requested funds to replace three fire department rip-and-run printers. Grant said the printers were five years old and were the ones that print call-detail information for the fire department and EMS personnel to grab as they go out the door. Grant said they are constantly on and have been running five years straight. The new printers are estimated to cost between $400 and $450 each.

The board approved the purchase of the new rip-and-run printers by unanimous decision.

Grant announced to the board he had returned from the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) national conference in Dallas, Texas. He mentioned the state of Tennessee has funding to build a statewide IT network for the entire state. It will go out for bid this fiscal year and is expected to be operational for the fiscal 2010-2011.

"What that means is once that network is up all 911 districts in Tennessee will no longer have 911 trunk lines coming in to their equipment," said Grant. "Their equipment has to have the ability to have network connections coming in, basically T-1s."

Trunk lines are direct links between two distant telephone exchanges or switchboards.

There will three routers across the state and Grant said the call would come in from one of the routers through a T-1 line. This would allow the district to save between $12,000 and $15,000 per year in telephone fees. Grant said the district is ready for the change and it would be possible to receive a text message 911 call or a video 911 call and could pose training issues.

Finally, the board elected new members for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Tom Reasons was elected chairman. Kris Kent will remain secretary. Chairman Benny Spain will assume the duties of treasurer and Dyer County Fire Chief James Medling will serve as vice chairman.