Meeting Minutes for April 6, 2014
NC Association of Rescue & EMS, Inc.
April 6, 2014
NC Association of Rescue & EMS, Inc., Office, Goldsboro, NC
Commander Robert Poe called the meeting to order.
Invocation: Bill Henderson.
Welcome: Robert Poe.
Adoption of order of business; Motion by Glen Cowan; Second by Vince Stone ; Motion Carried.
Guests recognized; Allen Johnson Eastern Regional Manager OEMS, and Derrick Clouston, NCDOI/OSFM, Todd Brown, NCEM.
Roll call showed 16 Directors, Commander, Vice Commander, Medical Director, and Executive Director present.
Minutes of Directors meeting July 26, 2013; Motion to approve Bill Henderson. Second by Jerry Bradshaw. Motion Carried.
Minutes of Convention Meeting July 25-27, 2013; Motion to approve Bill Henderson. Second by Tim Pennell. Motion Carried.
None.
Derrick Clouston. Fire/Rescue Training. (1)High Rescue School March 28-30, 2014 just held with Sunday cancelled due to High Winds and closing of the Park. Working towards Pilot Mountain in the Fall. (2)Tr Rewrites are working through the validation process. (3) Dive Certification has been delayed awaiting the NOAA manual. It has been released and being correlated to NFPA. Alabama has a dive 1 program and is willing to share their program. (4)Larry Hughes Retired March 31, 2014. (5)Reorganization effective March 27, 2014 Training and Inspections will be under Wayne Bailey.
Todd Brown. (1)As of February, NCEM has become fully staffed in our field positions. Yancey King has been hired as the Area 8 Coordinator, replacing Steve Powers who was hired to fill the vacant Central Branch Manager Position. Yancey serves Anson, Chatham, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, and Scotland Counties. (2)Also in February we held our 4th Alpine and Mountain Rescue School. We are working with the Standards and Training Committee to formalize the credentialing of the resource. We also had our first mission, fulfilled by Buncombe Rescue and Parkway Fire, for 5 college students from Illinois who picked hiking the Appalachian Trail during a Winter Storm as their spring break adventure.(3)Up next for training and curriculum is finishing up of our land search team training, followed by Swiftwater boat operator, and man tracking specialist.(4)These courses aren't meant to supersede any current standards, we're just looking to fill the gaps for the bigger, more specialized events that require extraordinary resources, much like we've done with the RRT and USAR task forces.(5)NCEM is working with a legislative committee studying the impacts of fracking and the costs that will be imposed on the HazMat and Rescue community in the event of an accident at a drilling site. (6)Dates:April 22-23 State Flood Exercise at the State EOC, should be minimal impact on the local rescue community, but the annual water rescue resource surveys will be sent out again in May. We will also be working with OEMS as they run through a State Medical Support Shelter exercise just up the road at the O'Berry Center for a 50 bed special shelter. (7)June 10 NCEM will hold our quarterly EM-Forum. Focus will be service and support for the special needs community.
Allen Johnson. (1)Staff Vacancies - ERO Regional Specialist - pending post. Staff Development Coordinator pending offer (2)Virtual Computing - Over the past several months, the Division has been working to migrate from the Novell Network to the Enterprise Active Directory Software (EADS) Migration. Effective March 24th, the department completed the conversion with some issues. This is a major initiative and has required other partners such as DIRM and State ITS to become engaged to ensure successful migration. (3)EMS and Trauma Rules Revision Project Status Report - On January 8, 2014, the task force conducted statewide teleconferences at 7 locations. The locations were as follows:Wake Technical Community College Host Site, Forsyth Technical Community College, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Haywood Community College, Western Piedmont Community College, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College,College of the Albemarle. Two additional sites were originally scheduled to participate; however, technical difficulties resulted in these sites being closed. They were: Pitt Community College, Craven Community College. In order to accommodate receipt of comments from the eastern portion of the state, the task force decided to conduct an additional in-person public meeting on January 21, 2014 at the East Carolina University Heart Institute in Greenville. During these sessions, there are 48 persons in attendance at the 8 sites combined. Of the 48 in attendance, 14 persons addressed the task force. Changes being considered from the initial draft for this final draft include: Removing from consideration the authorization for licensed EMS Providers to have their own Medical Director in lieu of using the System Medical Director. Removing the proposed Accredited EMS provider rule that utilized CAAS and CAMTS in lieu of NC OEMS licensing requirements. Removing the proposed Operational EMS rules until further research is completed on these program types. Replacing the NFPA Instructor Methodology requirement with the NHTSA 2002 EMS Instructor Educational Methodology standard. Requiring individuals to take their first attempt at an initial credentialing exam within 90 days of course grading date as reflected in the OEMS CIS database. The final draft will be presented to the EMS Advisory Council at the May 13th meeting. The final draft will then be posted on the OEMS Web Site for public review and comment. The planned effective date of these rules will be July 1, 2015 pending no delays. (4)Call for Presentations for Emergency Medicine Today 2014 Announced and Slotted. The North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services (NC OEMS) announced the 2014 "Call for Presentations" for the 41st Annual Educational Conference, Emergency Medicine Today, to be held in Greensboro, North Carolina, October 4th - 8th, 2014. Exhibit Hall registration opened March 28th! Conference registration is scheduled to open June 1st. (5)VIPER Radio Project. The Office of EMS has secured funds and purchased 255 Dual-Head Mobile VIPER Radios to work towards our goal of having a VIPER Radio on every permitted EMS vehicle throughout the state. We are currently compiling data to determine which permitted vehicles currently have VIPER or funds to purchase VIPER, in order to establish agencies that would benefit from this equipment. There are 2,585 permitted ambulances in the state. Each agency should have received an email asking for information related to their vehicles. If you haven't responded to the email or didn't receive, please see our staff before you leave to make sure we have your information. Reference letter attached. (6) New Patches. The Office of EMS is in the Planning phases for creating new EMS patches to reflect the new levels. A stakeholder group is being created to develop a process for receiving input into the design. More Information to come on ways that you can provide your ideas. Tom Mitchell, Asst. Chief, OEMS is the point of contact for this project. (7)Healthcare Preparedness Recovery Response & Recovery (HPR&R) Program. As many of you know funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program was reduced at the federal level by $103.5 million for the budget period beginning July 1. The impact to North Carolina was a 36.4% decrease from the current budget period and the state budget for FY 14 is $6,183,490. Conference calls and face to face meetings with the regions and stakeholders are being conducted to address the impact of this reduction. The Office of OEMS streamlined their budget to incur the largest impact of this reduction. Regional partners submitted preliminary budgets representing a 30% reduction form the current year. The intent of this request was to have the regions begin serious discussions of how the reduction would impact the regional HPP program. (8)Statewide Exercise-April 21st - 26th, 2014 O'Berry Center, Goldsboro, NC.
Jimmy Stewart. The NC 911 Board this past year has been involved with several ongoing and new projects that will enhance 911 services to the citizens of NC and to the field user such as our EMS and Rescue Services as well as Fire and Law Enforcement.
www.nc911.nc.gov
Updates on ongoing projects.
1. Statewide Mapping Project/Partnership with the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NC CGIA) The continuing Statewide Orthoimagery Project continues with Eastern Piedmont which is the mid state area being completed and delivered in March of this year and the third area of the 4 year cycle, the Northwest Piedmont and Mountains area has been shot and is now in processing. As a reminder the initial project was completed in 2012 and to keep on a schedule, one of four sections of the State will be photographed each year so that no County will have maps over 4 years old. All maps can be viewed at www.nconemap.com. The website is also a complete map resource for NC and is a very valuable resource. The site has road view maps, ortho maps and topo maps.
2. PSAP Grants
8 grants totaling $11.8 million were approved for FY 2013-14:
Hertford County $ 4,250,000 PSAP Consolidation w/Murfreesboro, Ahoskie & Hertford Co.
Gates County $ 149,000 Gates Co 911 Upgrade
Henderson County $ 3,600,000 PSAP Relocation
Orange County $ 625,828 Systems Replacement Replacements
Swain County $ 610,000 Enhancement & Expansion Project
Anson County $ 949,000 PSAP Enhancement & Replacement
Wilson County $ 700,000 PSAP Upgrade
Bladen County $ 300,000 PSAP Enhancement
3. New Additions to approved equipment list in 2013.
Activity Monitor used to graphically display the location of incoming 911 calls for viewing by all Telecommunicators within the communications center.
Multi-line hunt for telephone systems.
Message switch software that allows for voiceless dispatch, status updates, and mobile to
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) messaging. This will include CAD licensing costs for mobile
computer terminals, smartphones and tablets.
As always, the complete list of approved equipment is on the home page of the 911 Board Website.
4. List of approved training programs
A list of known classes that are provided by various organizations such as APCO, NENA, etc. and whether they are eligible or not eligible to be paid for with 911 Board funds.
5. Operating Standards
We are awaiting the Operating Standards to go through codification and rules process. The Standards continue to be revised during this process and are expected to be completed this year.
6. Emergency Call Tracking System (ECaTS)
The 911 Board has purchased a Call Detail Record system, per the new Operating System requirement, for all PSAPs in the State. The system is called ECaTS. The company is based in California and provides this service to many States. The ECaTS system collects and provides through a secure connection for the PSAP Director and the Board, analytical information concerning 911 call answering such as volume, answer times, time on call, trunk usage, volume versus time of day/day of week and other useful reports. These reports can determine if the standard of answering 90% of 911 calls within 3 rings per national benchmarks is being met as well as if more personnel are needed, if peak times need adjusting or if more 911 trunks are needed. This program will provide much needed call-taking analysis at the local and State levels.
7. The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) www.firstnet.gov
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 created the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Department of Commerce. The Act directs FirstNet to establish a single nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network. The FirstNet Board is responsible for making strategic decisions regarding FirstNet's operations. This Board has been appointed and they have gone to work. One of their actions will be to award grants to States. NTIA will focus the grants initially on planning, consulting, and development activities in preparation for consultations with FirstNet, including strategy and timeline development, meetings, governance planning, and outreach and education efforts.
While the 911 Board is not directly responsible for this project at the State level, our Board Chair is part of that group. This project will have far reaching effects on how we may provide service in the future and will affect field units also.
There are many radio interconnect systems that work via internet and VOIP that can enable you to talk on your radio via an app on your smartphone. They are inexpensive and effective and are just the tip of the iceburg.
8. New Generation 911-NG911
I am sure you have heard the term-New Generation 911. NG911 is the effort to update the 911 infrastructure in the US and is a culmination of many things, such as texting to 911, receipt and distribution of photos and movie images from the public to field responders (ESInet), routing of calls based on GPS data (lat. and log.) and not street address. This routes the call to the right PSAP. IP based networks and Automatic Collision Notification Systems (which we now have and in the future we will receive data directly from) are also part of NG 911. It is an evolving work in progress.
The 911 Board will be issuing an RFI (Request for Information) form vendors on NG911 solutions, a statewide network and other related issues.
New Projects
1. Interim Text to 911 Solutions
In December 2012 an agreement between NENA , APCO and the "Big 4" wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile), text-to-9-1-1 capabilities will be in place on those four carriers' networks by May 2014.
PSAPS have 3 choices to accomplish this and due to their length I will say if you are interested in seeing them, they are on the home page of the 911 Board webpage. These are interim solutions until NG 911 systems are in place and are not intended to replace telephone calls to 911 but are to be used when calling is not feasible such as home invasions, etc. or for the deaf and hard of hearing.
2. ISO Rating Survey changes.
ISO has changed their rating schedule for Fire Departments and that change is in effect. 10% of a Fire Department's rating comes from Communications. Those changes have taken the Communications survey from the present equipment based rating system to a performance based rating system such as meeting the 90% benchmark in 911 call answering. Dispatch time of 60 seconds after call answer, back up power, Telecommunicator training and continuing education, use of a dispatch protocol, and dispatch circuit monitoring just to name a few.
3. Secondary PSAPS
The 911 Board voted to begin funding secondary PSAPS if they meet certain conditions. The main requirement is that they be an extension of the primary PSAP in that they can be transferred 911 calls with location data among other requirements. Secondary PSAPs will have to enter into agreements with the primary PSAP to pass funding through. The secondary PSAP funding does not affect the primary PSAP's funding, they just serve as the pass-through agency. Full requirements are on the 911 Board website.
4. 911 System Outages
The 911 Board tracks 911 system outages and those reports are in the agenda books on the website.
5. Goals of the Board
In a planning meeting in Charlotte, the Board Developed 5 goals we wanted to meet:
1. Education / Outreach
PSAPs, Local Govt, Legislators, etc
2. PSAP Backup Plans
3. IP/Next Gen
4. Adjust Current Funding Model
5. Technical Resources
6. Website
As always we invite everyone to visit the 911 Board website. Board Meetings (agendas and agenda books), Committee/Subcommittee meeting minutes and schedules are always posted. Please attend meetings if you would like as all meetings including committee meetings are open to the public and most are available via teleconference if you are not able to be there in person.
Robert Poe. Fire and Rescue Commission Meeting 1-14-14. (1)Kevin Gordon gave a Certification Board update. (2)3 LODD's still working (3)Chairman Cook thanked Ellen Sullivan and Tim Bradley for their service to the commission from OSFM. (4)The Certification Board will begin working on establishing a Arson Certification program. (5)Rick McIntyre was appointed the Executive Director to the Fire and Rescue Commission.
Terry Foxx. Meeting March 04, 2014 at Rowan Cabarrus Community College. (1)Rules Committee met that morning prior to the full board mtg. The other standing committee is Discipline and usually meets after the Fire-Rescue Commission meeting. (2)Discussed at rules were instructor requalifications and what would happen if they missed the requalification. (3) Firefighter is in rewrite for validation to add wellness/health and Mayday and survival. (4) Certification Board Policy and Procedures are on line and have been updated. (5)Dive certification is moving forward since the release of the NOAA manual. (6) Rescue Officer is in the pilot process dates of those forthcoming. (7) TR rewrite is with the validation committees. (8) Reciprocity, ADA, and High School policies have been discussed and will be sent to the Commission at the April meeting.
Robert Poe. EMS Advisory Council Mtg 11-12-13 (1) A Task Force was appointed by Chairman Pervier to review and take public comment on the current EMS rules and possible changes. This Task Force will report to the Advisory Council in February. (2)New credentialing examinations are being developed. (3)OEMS is working with the National Guard to develop a pilot Combat Medic to Paramedic program. (4)OEMS Compliance staff continues to review criminal backgrounds. (5)12 EMS have been approved to use Epi 1:1000 via being drawn up into a syringe instead of using a auto injector. (6)Feb 11th meeting was cancelled due to snow
No Report.
Gordon Joyner. (1)A funding has now been established and should remain. (2) Program evaluation reports have been presented and are working through the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Committee and Subcommittee for possible legislation.(3) Rate increases to be presented to the Fire Rescue Commission to increase part-time and paid premiums.
Terry Foxx. (1)Report included the guest list and other items as follows with Motion from the committee, Second Glen Cowan. Motion Carried.
Chief of OEMS & guest
Deputy of OSFM Fire & Rescue Training & guest
Director of EM and guest
Director of Pension Fund & guest
Legal Advisor & guest
Medical Advisor & guest
Chaplain & guest
Parliamentarian & guest
NCAR&EMS Staff & guests
The Officers have the authority to authorize the payment of registration for the representatives of OSFM & OEMS.
(2) Member requested removal from a roster. A member can request the form in writing and/or by email. A form would be sent to the member so that they can have it signed and returned and we can then remove them and notify appropriate agencies. Motion from the committee to approve, Second Ronnie Warrick. Motion Carried. Copy Attached in office. (3) Motion by Billy Sparks to increase dues for 2015-2016. Dues would increase to $16.00 departments would be $40.00. Second by Glen Cowan, Motion Approved. (4) Motion from committee to partner with American Redcross to assist them with moving assets as available when needed. Second Vince Stone. Motion Carried.
Gordon Joyner: (1) Motion to accept at Financial Audit year ending September 30, 2013, prepared by Markham, Mitchell, & Stroud, PLLC., Motion from Finance. Second by Vince Stone. Motion Carried. (2) Motion from committee to approve the Association Budget and Brotherhood Budgets. Second by Robert Ivey. Motion Carried. (3) Motion from the committee to approve the Financial Statements ending February for Association, Brotherhood, and Memorial Fund. Second by Bill Henderson. Motion Carried.
No Report.
Jerry Bradshaw. Appointments of Area Directors. Motion by Vince Stone to accept by acclamation Area 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 appointments. Area 3, 4, 5, 14, 15 were elected by secret ballot. A list of those appointed follows.
Area 1 Chris Buffaloe
Randy Skinner
Area 2 Oliver Butch
Glen Cowan
Area 3 Hervy B Kornegay Jr
Ronnie Warrick
Area 4 Jerry Bradshaw
Woodrow Sullivan
Area 5 Randall M. Carlyle
Robert D. Ivey Jr.
Area 6 Harold Henrich
Paul Nowell
Area 7 Jerry Cornelison
David Pease
Area 8 Joe Mancos
Christopher Mauney
Area 9 Jeff Hinshaw
Billy Sparks
Area 10 Bill Henderson
Scott McCaskill
Area 11 Wes Blackwelder
Tim Pennell
Area12 Richard Caudill
Christopher Jacobs
Area 13 Kevin Gordon
Kenneth Hogue
Area 14 Steven M. Pless
David Stamey
Area 15 Vince Stone
Robert Twomey
Glen Cowan. Proposed change to Constitution to the terms of office of Directors so that the Directors terms will be stagger so that 1 of the 15 would be elected in even number years and the other elected on odd years. Motion from the committee, Second Tim Pennell, Motion Carried.
Proposed Changes to Constitution 4-6-2014
1.5.3.2 Subsection B: Terms of Office
The Area Directors shall serve two (2) year terms. There shall be no limit on the number or order of appointed terms an Area Director may serve, i.e. s/he may serve for life if s/he continues to be appointed. Area Directors shall take office immediately following the meeting of the Board of Directors. Begining with the year 2016, One Area Director from each of the 15 Areas shall be elected for a two (2) year term and from each of the 15 Areas shall be electd for a three (3) year term.
(A full Copy is attached to the minutes.)
Tim Pennell. (1)Competition will be held and are working on getting the logistics together for competition.
Terry Foxx & Allen Johnson. (1)BLS judges evaluation held today. Another will be held later. (2)Motion to make changes to equipment list so it will include EMTB equipment provided by the teams and OEMS providing the AED. Second Billy Sparks. Motion Carried.
Terry Foxx. (1)Review of roster statistics. 625 Member Departments, 26771 members on rosters, 6274 BH Members. Other stats presented are attached to the minutes in the office. (2)Working with NCEM to develop Alpine Standard. Motion from committee to continue working with EM to develop standard and program. Second Scott McCaskill. Motion Carried.
Robert Poe. (1)Discussion of the NCGA Program Evaluation Report. (2) Discussed to increase the amount of scholarships for 2015. (3) Proposal to the directors to approve borrowing the money from LGFCU at 3.25% fixed for 15 years. Motion from Relief Fund Board to complete a corporate resolution to move forward with LGFCU. Second Bill Henderson. Motion Carried.
Gordon Joyner. August 7-9, 2014 at the Greenville Convention Center. Information is available on the website.
Robert Poe/Terry Foxx. The committee is working to secure the plans for 2015 and would like for anyone who has not completed the survey to do so by May 15, 2014. There was not many responses initially so it was put back up to get more responses.
Motion to adjourn Bill Henderson. Second by Chris Mauney. Motion Carried.
Gordon A. Joyner/Executive Director
(DRAFT Not official Until Approved by the Board of Directors.)
Meeting Minutes for April 6, 2014