04-28-2011 COMMUNICATIONS INTERLOCAL AGENCY - GOVERNING
"- BOARD
April 28, 2011 — Monthly Meeting Minutes
The April meeting was held pursuant to public notice at the City of Port Orange,
City Council Chambers, 1000 City Center Circle, Port Orange, Florida on April
28, 2011.
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m.
A role call was taken with Mayor Allen Green, Councilmember's Ted Cooper and
Jack Grasty in attendance. Board Council Margaret Roberts was also present.
The regular minutes of the March meeting were reviewed and accepted with
unanimous approval from the Board.
There were no Public Comments and Correspondence.
There were no comments from the Governing Board members, City Managers
and Customer Agency Chiefs.
There were no Committee and Project Reports.
low
There were no Director reports.
There were no Attorneys reports.
Under Unfinished Business Mr. Bubb addressed the Board with a consolidation
update. The Director met with the County's transition team and discussed the
transition of staff. It had been publicized that there were 26 positions available at
Central and 13 current vacancies. RCC employees will have the opportunity to
apply for a position with the County; it is not an automatic transition over to
Cental. Successful candidates through the application process will be placed in
one of three wage and benefit categories. The County will do their best to match
what our employees currently make. They do not want RCC employees coming
in, and making more than the current County employees. The staff will be put
into a minimum of a six month probationary period. RCC staff also has to go
through a background check with the County. RCC Shift Supervisors will not go
into supervisory positions, as there are none available and will be placed into
Dispatcher positions. No employee leave balances will be carried over.
Seniority for RCC employees will account for the accrual rate only with the
County. RCC staff will be allowed up to only 48 hours of leave in their first year,
subject to approval. Mr. Cooper asked if that was about a weeks worth of
vacation for the employee. Mr. Bubb stated that the shifts are 12 hours each,
making the time off available to the RCC employees four days. Shift rotation at
the County is every six months. RCC does not do shift rotation, due to child care
issues, etc. There will be two or three I.T. positions available with the County on
October 1 Our I.T. people will be eligible to apply and will be given first
consideration of any other applicants. The Administrative Manager will be able to
apply for a Records Clerk position on the third shift, 11 p.m — 7 a.m. The County
Manager committed to look for a position for the Director, currently there is
nothing available and it was recommended that the Director apply for a
Dispatcher position, and leave the salary as negotiable. The County has asked
us to submit all employee data, qualifications, certifications, etc. They want the
employees to go into their web site and fill out the appropriate application, and
then they will determine what our employees pay package would be. They want
all the information submitted by July 1 Keeping staff operational is going to be
tricky as the employees want to use their time before transition. We don't know
yet what the number of employees is that will transition and who won't. We've
tried to keep the RCC employees up to speed on what is happening with the
transition.
Mr. Parker addressed the Board, and explained that there are several different
transition teams, working with different issues. The Manager's met yesterday,
and were invited to attend the County Council meeting and sit in the audience.
Secondly, we were provided some information, and on October 1 basic dispatch
services would occur at Volusia County. That amounts to all 9 -1 -1 calls going to
County dispatch and they would not be transferred to a secondary PSAP or to
RCC. The County would direct all dispatch throughout the County. Mr. Cooper
asked for clarification, and Mr. Parker explained that RCC would not receive any
9 -1 -1 calls at all. The County told the City Managers that RCC could monitor the
radios if they wanted to. May 2012, would be the transition to the records
management system, and because we're currently not on the County records
management system, the cities would have to handle some record management
issues by ourselves. In the final dispatch transition the County would bring both
their dispatch locations into one building and that would occur in 2013. The
County will not be operating out of RCC after October 1 As it relates to some
of the other issues, the big one would be what would occur on October 1 and
that would be the cessation of receiving 9 -1 -1 calls in RCC. Mr. Parker stated
that the County system would operate under the Sheriffs Office. The County
discussed forming a formal Board for dispatch. It would be a transitional Board
comprised of the County Manager, the Sheriff, the Protective Services Director
from Volusia County and a representative from each of the three regions in
Volusia County. It would be a Manager from each region, not an elected official.
The Governing Board needs to make the decision of which Manager will
represent the South East Volusia region. The County Council would be the final
authority for all decisions. Also in the presentation, the County began to define
more clearly what would be the responsibilities of the consolidated dispatch
center, and the responsibilities of the individual cities. Some of the decisions that
we made ten years ago, when RCC was created, we brought cost together that
will not be in the County's proposal for services. All connectivity charges, which
are currently in the RCC budget, under the County's proposal will revert to the
individual cities. The maintenance of the hardware and software which was also
budgeted by RCC, those charges will now also be brought back to the individual
cities. There will still be a cost to the cities for the next year or two for dispatch
services.
Mr. Parker told the Governing Board that there are two items that they need to
resolve. One is that, one of the five Managers needs to be chosen to be a
representative for the South East Volusia Region. Secondly, the Board needs to
be talking about a transitional team for RCC. The Managers would recommend
that the Governing Board authorize these three cities form a transitional team to
form a transitional plan to bring back to the Governing Board for its review and
consideration. There are issues contained in the Interlocal that have to be
resolved, there has to be issues worked about leave time, contract issues, and
it's a large task.
Ms. Brangaccio addressed the Board, informing them that things change weekly,
and stated that each Council needs to be informed of the responsibilities of each
of the cities. Each of the cities has an internal transitional team now, and what
we want to do is expand that and transition as a unit in terms of RCC. Pam
stated that they wanted a little bit of leverage as a group in terms of the transition
costs. We also want some assurances for our employees, too.
No my Mayor Green asked if we had any choice at all. What would happen if you could
compress the time, and out of the five City Managers available to represent the
South East Region, Mayor Green thinks the Managers should make the
recommendation to them, with an alternate. Mr. Cooper also asked if we had a
choice in this matter, legally. Margaret Roberts responded that the other
attorneys and she discussed some of her concerns, and there is no consensus or
researched opinion to provide to the Board. Ms. Roberts is still looking into the
matter, and the 9 -1 -1 system is funded under the County, and if you work under
that system, you must work with the County Council. The same statutory
provision recognizes that you can have regional systems. It is not prohibited by
any means. The County Council has made it clear, that they will control the
system and the funding for the system. Dispatch is an integral part of your
emergency management services and this would be considered as a transfer of
services from the local cities to the County that is highly regulated in this state,
through the constitution as a transfer of power which is done by vote. The other
alternative is the Interlocal Agreement, and trying to work with the County, which
is not a permanent transfer but an agreement. These are the recognized
alternatives for transfer of power. The funding is key as to whether or not you
want to transfer RCC to Volusia County.
Mr. Cooper stated that he is concerned that as of October 1 there is going to be
a failure to dispatch police or fire, and under Florida statute, wouldn't they be
breaking the law? Ms. Roberts was not prepared to address that. Mr. Parker
' stated that sometimes comments are made off the cuff.
Mayor Green stated that there were a lot of issues that needed to be addressed,
and this doesn't appear to leave us any options. There doesn't seem to be
enough time to complete this transition by October 1St
Mr. Cooper said that he would give the City Managers all the latitude they
needed, but that he also dislikes what he heard from the Director about the
treatment of supervisors, including the Director. Mr. Cooper also said that
refusing to forward calls to three major cities must illegal. Ms. Roberts replied
that she's not willing to say it's illegal at this point, but it sounds like a failure to
maintain a viable 9 -1 -1 system.
Director Bubb stated that he truly believes in a consolidated system, and that it
can work, but when you come from a well oiled wheel that the County is trying to
get to, but with no backup, it tends to be a concern.
Mr. Cooper stated that he wanted this to come out as the best world for all, but it
doesn't sound like it is. Mayor Green stated again, that with the transfer of RCC
and EVAC at the same, he thinks the County is biting off more than they can
chew. The County should take their time with a transaction as big as this and
this is happening way too %my
There was no New Business.
There were no Summary Comments of the Government Board.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:53 a.m.
Approve• by the :oard on Jul 28, 2011
...4 /--____),/ ____,.._
By
Allen Green
.r.-