HomeMy WebLinkAboutC.054.93009_2000IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
BRIEFING MINUTES
NOVEMBER 17 1998
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met for an Agenda Briefing on Tuesday,
November 17, 1998, at 5:00 P.M., in the South Wing Conference Room of the Iredell County
Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC.
Present: Chairman Sara K. Haire
Vice Chairman Steve Johnson
David A. Boone
Alice T. Fortner
Alice M. Stewart
County Staff Present: County Manager Joel Mashburn, County Finance Director Susan
Blumenstein, Director of ECOM and Emergency Management Larry Dickerson, Planning Supervisor
William Allison, Lt. Mike Hager of the Sheriff's Dept., County Assessor Brent Weisner, Health
Director Ray Rabe, and Clerk to the Board Jean Moore.
ECOM/COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE FROM LARRY DICKERSON: Dickerson
said Iredell County's Communication System was considered conventional and anything other than
trunk or digital fell into this category. He said ECOM operated using three towers with a
microwave. (The microwave replaced telephone lines.)
He mentioned the Iredell County ECOM Department was "second to none in the State of
North Carolina" and the radio and paging system far exceeded the criteria for emergency operation
offices.
Dickerson said the main problem in Iredell County was the topography and there were many
elevations between the northern and southern boundaries. He mentioned one solution might be
trunk service. This, however, could cost anywhere from $3.3 to $3.5 million. Another solution
might be mobile data units.
When asked if other improvements could be made, Dickerson said the Sheriff would
probably ask for the mobile data units. He said a technological repeater might help. He also said
software upgrades would soon be needed.
Chairman Haire asked the cost for mobile data units. Dickerson said he did not know and
directed the question to Lt. Mike Hager of the Sheriff s Office. Hager said the cost would be about
$5,000 per unit, and he estimated about 40 law enforcement vehicles would need them.
A question was asked about simulcast. Dickerson said ECOM had a problem with the
oscillator. Specifically, the ECOM department gets a noise. (The caller can hear ECOM, but the
ECOM personnel cannot hear the caller.) He mentioned the voice quality was not clear - - there
was a warble.
The county manager asked if there were any "dead spaces" within the county. Dickerson
said there were not.
Commissioner Johnson asked about the possibility of the sheriffs department obtaining a
consultant to investigate the simulcast problem. He asked Dickerson if it would help. Dickerson
said the problem he had found was that vendors were unwilling to give a written guarantee simulcast
would work better after a study was completed. Dickerson did acknowledge, however, that he had
not talked to Motorola about simulcast.
Commissioner Johnson asked if the problem with simulcast limited the County's ability to
protect the public. Dickerson said it did not.