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Home My WebLink About11/10/1993 Adjourned Meeting 17 CITY OF JAKIMA,; }W_ASHINGTON NOVEMBER 10, 1993 ADJOURNED MEETING I/ The City Council met in session on this date at 7:30 a.m., in the Library at the Yakima School District #7 Administration Building, 104 North 4th Avenue, Yakima, Washington, for the purpose of meeting with the Yakima County Commissioners to discuss E- 911 /Consolidated Dispatch. Mayor Pat Berndt, presiding, Council Members Henry Beauchamp, Bill Brado, Lynn Buchanan, Skip Semon and Bernard Sims present on roll call. Council Member Clarence Barnett absent and excused. County Commissioners present were Chuck Klarich and Bettie Ingham. City staff members present were City Manager Zais, Pleas Green, Police Chief, Gene Martin, Deputy Fire Chief, Wayne Wantland, Communications and Electronics Supervisor, and City Clerk Roberts. County staff members present were Doug Blair, Sheriff, and Dick Anderwald, Planning Director. Dave Atherton, Suncom Director, also present. Mark Kimm, Assistant Fire Chief, Fire District No. 5 present after 8:20 a.m. Dick Anderwald commented that this report evolved from a discussion in the Fire Department last July. A committee, consisting of Dick Zais, Pleas Green, Gerald Beeson, Gene Martin, Wayne Wantland, Doug Blair, David Atherton and Mark Kimm, has been meeting for the last four months. Acknowledging that the E- 911 /Consolidated Dispatch report was just provided to the Council members and Commissioners, Mr. Anderwald reviewed the report. E- 911 has been on line since September 1993; however, without some additional equipment it is not available to all entities. Mr. Atherton stated they are looking for a level of service equal or better than what is presently being provided. The dispatch center would operate 911, doing both emergency and non - emergency calls. The calls would be screened by priorities, previously established by both the agency and the department. Suncom would also have alarm monitoring capability for the private sector and to the governmental agencies. They would also have after -hours telephone services for other non - emergency departments, such as public works, which might require a paging service. Mr. Anderwald stated the consolidation can occur at varying levels, but the costs would be lower with more agencies participating. One of the issues expressed by the lower valley and by the City was retention costs, which must be absorbed to complete the clerical work that I/ people involved in dispatching do. He stated they asked each community to give them their, estimate of costs to provide these services. Under the Suncom option it is $930,000, and $802,000 under the Yakima alternative. The difference is the cost savings Yakima would realize in not having to hire additional clerical staff. He outlined the major differences between the two alternatives. One difference is in staffing; Yakima alternative has 1.5 full time positions less than the Suncom proposal. Another difference is the location -- the Suncom proposal includes remodeling the old Safeway building, and the Yakima facility would be included in the proposed police station /legal facility. 18 NOVEMBER 10, 1993 - ADJOURNED MEETING Speaking about the level of service, City Manager Zais commented the City had concerns about maintaining an acceptable level of service, not wanting any degradation of service. The earlier report to Council raised their concerns; however, those concerns have been resolved. Referring to page 11B, which shows comparisons of just communication costs, the Adcom alternative was $3.56 million; the Suncom alternative is $2.6 million and the Yakima alternative is $2.4 million. He explained the information on pages 29 and 31 giving statistics on staffing. The current combined personnel is 72.95; under Suncom it is 70.45, and under Yakima it is 63.5. He stated the difference really comes from personnel in other areas. Since Yakima's pay scale is higher, they had to create a system and structure to provide a tiered level of entry and transfer so existing personnel would not be hurt. Mr. Zais referred Council and Commissioners to page 6 of the report to review the conclusions. It is the Committee's conclusion that either option is viable for consolidation. There are less costs associated with the City option, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be acceptable to all concerned. The footnote in the chart on revenues and expenditures is important because it applies to two issues the Committee looked at. It is likely we would receive state funding for E -911 even if we do not consolidate. The 20 cent tax reduces to 10 cents in 1998. We want to make sure that continues. Both options would use common equipment instead of purchasing new equipment as was contemplated in the Adcom proposal. Mayor Berndt asked if this would allow us to do computer -aided dispatch. Chief Green indicated it would. City Manager Zais suggested the Committee sit down with all the involved agencies and review this report and explain what the Yakima option has to offer. (Mark Kim present at 8:20 a.m.) If the Yakima alternative is not workable, Yakima is comfortable enough with the Suncom alternative to stay with the program. All the agencies in the valley have been requested to choose between the two options by early 1994 in order to submit our application to the State. In the meantime a, generic application for E -911 consolidation can be structured and when the choice is made, include that in the application. This will not happen overnight; it will take a year or more to make consolidation occur. Council Member Sims observed that there won't be an option if the City's law and justice center is not built. Mr. Zais stated the facility issue is a significant difference. The facility offered by the County will be different than the City's in terms of costs because the County is not ready to proceed with the Safeway building at this point. The City is already on line, assuming it proceeds with the law and justice facility. Commissioner Ingham interjected that the rehabilitation of the Safeway building is being designed Once a decision is made by the County for construction of that, it would be about an 18 month period for construction. Chief Green stated it would be about the same for the City. The Committee members responded to questions concerning the structural organization, and the time frame involved for making a decision regarding consolidation. Mr. Kimm reported a concern from the lower valley regarding the Yakima option is the operational aspect; they would want assurances in the contract 2 19 NOVEMBER 10, 1993 -' ADJOURNED MEETING that if the City changes management everything will remain the same and they would want some input into the operation. Mr. Wantland pointed out some errors in the report that need to be • corrected. On the title page, Doug Blair's title as Sheriff was omitted. On page 6 in the table beside year 1994, cross out the footnote because it has been replaced by state funds. Exhibits 7B and 10 charts were reversed from what is listed in the appendix title sheet. Commissioner Klarich stated that Yakima County plans to participate in consolidation. • The meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m. II i /.4 READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY , fA■ LI�a� / l AAL I, ' i °z -1 -9 C;U. CIL <' B R DATE 4 ) .0400 3 COUNCt'L MEMBER DATE / ATTEST: to ' gitt / �,��C�lt t CITY CLERK � Z/ MAYOR • • 3