Hamilton County Communications Center Business Plan
I. Department Overview
a.) Vision Statement
The Hamilton County Department of Communications is dedicated to providing the finest and most professional Public Safety Communications services. We provide the services in the most accurate, expeditious and technologically efficient manner possible. We are the first link in the chain between the public and emergency public safety services and willingly accept that responsibility.
We understand the uniqueness of the communities that we service and strive to meet the needs of each of them. We value diversity among our staff and encourage each employee to take responsibility and make contributions to improve our services. It is this commitment that drives us to serve with integrity, excellence, compassion, and professionalism.
b.) Who we are / What we do
The Hamilton County Department of Communications consists of two divisions. The Public Safety Communications Division is a consolidated E 9-1-1 center that serves the emergency communications needs of over 105 police, fire and EMS agencies in 42 political jurisdictions serving over 500,000 Hamilton County residents. The Telecommunications Division provides telephone and data technical infrastructure support to all County departments.
c.) Organizational Chart
Public Safety Communications Division
Telecommunications Division
d.) Core Functions / Lines of Work
-
Receive and process emergency 9-1-1 telephone calls and non-emergency calls for Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Service
-
Dispatch and coordinate by radio delivery of Police, Fire & Emergency Medical Service
-
Maintain the 800Mhz Radio System and fire Mobile Data System Infrastructure
-
Maintain and manage the County Alpha Paging System and the Communicator for various alerts and notifications.
-
Receive and process work orders for Telecommunications services.
-
Monitor and support performance of County WAN
II. Performance Measures
Public Safety Communications Division
Two primary statistics are used to measure performance in the Public Safety Communications Division including the average call answering time and the average call handling time as compared to accepted national standards.
a). The American Society for Testing and Materials Standards (ASTM) has set a standard that all calls for emergency medical dispatch should be answered within 3 rings or approximately 18 seconds. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) has set a standard that 90% of 9-1-1 calls should be answered within 10 seconds during the busiest hour of the day and 95% of all 9-1-1 calls should be answered within 20 seconds.
Hamilton County Communications has set an objective to answer all 9-1-1 calls in an average of 9 seconds. The data below shows that 9-1-1 calls are being consistently answered within an average of 2 to 3 seconds or in less than one ring. This is well below the maximum times established by national standards. (See Table #57)
b). Call handling time is measured as the time a call is answered until the time the first unit is dispatched. The Communication Center objective is to dispatch all EMS calls within a call handling time of 90 seconds or less. The data below shows that EMS calls are being dispatched consistently with a call handling time of 70 to 75 seconds. This is within the stated objective. (See Table #58)
Telecommunications Division
In order to provide efficient and quality service the Telecommunications Division has set an objective to process requests for service in 3 days. The data below shows the number of County phone lines and the per day number of requests completed. The Division is consistently 99.9% efficient in completion of service requests within the 3 day objective. (See Table #59)
Objective to Answer 9-1-1 calls within an average of 9 seconds
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Objective to dispatch EMS calls within 90 seconds or less of call answer time
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Objective to process requests for service in 3 days
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
III. Organizational Staffing Levels
The Public Safety Communications Division has an authorized staffing level of 82 employees. This includes 67 Communications Officers, 9 Communications Supervisors, and 6 Administrative staff. The Telecommunications Division has an authorized staffing level of 10 employees. The Telecommunications Division emplyees are General Fund FTEs.
Department of Communications
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IV. Financial Plan
Financial Description
The Public Safety Division of the Department of Communications is a restricted fund Division. Estimated 2009 funding percentages for the Department of Communications include the following sources; cities and villages (27.42%), townships (23.11%), Hamilton County Departments (12.61%), and County General Fund Supplement (36.86%).
User agencies contract with the County for various services including:
Full User - The Communication Center provides 9-1-1 and non-emergency call answering services as well as police, fire, and EMS dispatch services for these communities.
Valley User - These communities use the County 800 MHz radio system but provide their own dispatch services.
9-1-1 PSAP Associate - The Communication Center is the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for these communities. The 9-1-1 calls are answered and then transferred to the dispatch center in the local community.
The User agencies pay a minimum fee for the services. The monthly minimum fee is calculated by dividing the annual Communication Center Administrative costs by the number of users.
Full Users pay the minimum fee plus additional fees for incidents processed beyond a predetermined number of incidents per month. The cost per incident is calculated on an annual basis by dividing the Communication Center Operations Budget, plus a 3% contingency fund, minus any non-user revenue by the total incident count for all Users in the previous year. The minimum user fee is then divided by the cost per incident. The resulting number of incidents establishes a baseline. The cost per incident is applied to all incidents for the user over the baseline. The cost per detail has been frozen at $14 since 2001. The County General Fund subsidy has increased during that period. The cost per detail rate will be raised to $14.55 for 2009.
Users also pay minimal fees for use of the County alpha paging system and non-public safety use of the 800 MHz radio system. The paging system is used by police and fire agencies. The majority of non-public safety use of the radio system is the Metropolitan Sewer District and local public service departments. Total revenues collected remain flat with little or no increase or decrease.
The Telecommunications Division is a General Fund Division funded on the basis of need. An annual assessment of the Divisions projects is analyzed by the Budget Department to develop the budget. Restricted fund departments are invoiced for work performed in those departments by the Telecommunications Division.
Current Budget and Trends - Public Safety Division
The 2009 operations budget for the Department of Communications Public Safety Division is $8,038,089. The budget is projected to increase at a rate of 5 to 7 percent annually. Phase II wireless legislation has created additional revenue that will be in place until the end of 2012 under current law. This funding source resulted in additional revenue of $870,000 in 2008 reducing the need for the general fund supplement. In future years, approximately $1.5 to $2.0 million in General Fund money will be necessary to supplement the operations budget.
The Department has one major capital project scheduled for 2009. Fire and EMS Departments are dispatched using a combination of alpha paging and voice tone alerting. The voice tone alerting system will be replaced beginning in 2009 at an approximate cost of $1,700,000. This project will be funded using revenue generated by the increase in detail cost. This project was originally scheduled for 2008 but was put on hold due to budgetery constraints.
Current Budget and Trends - Telecommunications Division
The 2009 Telecommunications Division budget is $1,932,320. The Telecommunications Division budget has decreased at a rate of approximately 3 to 5 percent annually over the past four years. This trend is a result of implementation of new technologies and other cost reductions resulting in overall cost savings.
Budgetary Issues
Three major issues impacting the budget have been identified as factors in increasing expenditures.
Wage costs will be increasing at a rate of approximately 6% in 2009. This is a fixed cost due to the Communications Officer Collective Bargaining Agreement approved in 2007.
Utility costs are increasing at a rate of approximately 10% per year. Electricity is obviously an essential element in keeping the Communication Center and 14 additional radio tower sites in service on a 24/7 basis.
Annual Radio and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) maintenance and support costs total approximately $1.6 million. This cost increases approximately 10% a year. These systems are very technologically sophisticated and professional support is vital in keeping the systems available 24 hours a day.
V. Critical Issues and Key Initiatives Facing Department in 2008 & Beyond
A). Staffing
In support of the Board of County Commissioners stated goal of encouraging consolidation of services, the Hamilton County Communication Center has made great strides over years by attracting new communities and agencies to utilize the Centers communication services. In 2008 the City of St. Bernard Fire Department joined the Communication Center as a full user of the system. The Communication Center now provides emergency public safety communication services to all but two of 48 political jurisdictions in Hamilton County. Every community that has joined this system has had to fully weigh that decision against the recognition that they are entrusting the County with the health and safety of the residents in their community. The Center has become the primary 9-1-1 answering point for 47 entities serving a residential population of over 500,000 people. The Center also provides dispatching services to 105 police, fire, and EMS agencies. This department fully understands the immense responsibilities that we assume and the associated life threatening consequences of our mistakes. It is with the recognition that inherent in the nature of the work and responsibilities that are performed by this department, there is an uncompromising expectation that above average performance is always the expected norm. Through this commitment to outstanding service, we have endeavored to provide the finest public safety communications services possible and earned a national reputation as one of the finest communication systems in the country.
B). Next Generation 9-1-1 Voice over IP Technology (VOIP)
Trends in telecommunications mobility and convergence have put the 9-1-1 system at a crossroads. The growing use of both cellular and Voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) telephony underscore the limitations of the current 9-1-1 infrastructure. Our current 9-1-1 infrastructure cannot handle the text, data, images, and video that are increasingly common in personal communications devices. The growing consensus in the 9-1-1 community is the need for a new, more capable system surrounding emergency call delivery and response. In 2009 the Communication Center will begin testing infrastructure and software that will allow the Center to receive 9-1-1 calls via text messaging.
C). Implementation of Wireless 9-1-1 Location Technology
Hamilton County deployed wireless telephone location technology in 2007. Current legislation provides a cost recovery mechanism (monthly telephone surcharge) for PSAPs to maintain technology to facilitate the receipt and processing of 9-1-1 telephone calls from cellular telephone users. This surcharge will be in place until late 2012.
D). Voice Tone Alerting System - Replacement
The Department of Communications has received authorization to replace the 20 year old voice tone alerting equipment. In 2007 the Department hired a consultant to begin developing the engineering specifications for a new fire/EMS voice and tone alerting radio system to replace the obsolete 20 year old equipment. The voice tone alerting equipment is the primary pager signaling equipment used to alert and dispatch fire and EMS personnel. The Communication Center has been informed by our radio service maintenance provider that they can no longer reliably support this critical equipment. The letter, dated February 15, 2006 states; the existing transmitters are subject to unrecoverable faults, and parts and service from the vendor are no longer available. An RFP will be issued in 2008 with expectations to replace this system by sometime in 2009.
E). 800 MHz Radio Rebanding
For many years the 800 MHz public safety frequencies have been plagued with interference from Nextel because the FCC permitted public safety and Nextels frequencies to be interleaved. The solution to the problem is to eliminate the interleaving and isolate public safety and Nextel to their own portions of the spectrum. To accomplish this, every 800 MHz radio, portable, mobile and base station must be reprogrammed at least once. This needs to occur with minimal disruption to public safety. Planning and negotiations for this project began in 2007. The County is currently in negotiations with Sprint/Nextel to complete this project.
F). Integrated Voice & Data Communications
National security issues and emerging technologies are changing the way traditional public safety communications systems operate. Voice over internet protocols, automatic collision notification systems (ACN), and telematics services are just a few of the technological challenges that must be met in the future. Public safety systems must now be able to build networks that will support the exchange of real time voice and data information from non-traditional dial tone service providers. Hamilton County initiated a project designed to put an infrastructure in place over the Motorola ASTRO 800 MHz digital radio system that will support a real-time, cross agency, mobile voice and data communications network. This innovative project will establish a vital link between all Hamilton County Fire and EMS agencies with 25 area hospitals in 3 states and a number of other non-traditional support agencies. To insure that at least a single point of contact exists between the 8 counties that comprise the tri-state area, Hamilton County has agreed to place radio and MDC equipment in each county communication center to support interoperability. The network will also support other emerging technologies and applications including ACN and Telematics.
G). National Center for Missing and Exploited Children training
The Communication Center has set a goal to train all Communications Officers in Model Policy and best Practices Guidelines pertaining to calls reporting missing and exploited children. Two employees have been certified as trainers in this program by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This training will provide our Communications Officers with the tools they need to more effectively handle calls regarding mising or exploited children. The Communication Center hopes to be the first in the nation to fully certify all personnel.
Attached Documents
