WASHINGTON PARISH COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT

Minutes for January 04, 2005

A regularly scheduled and properly and advertised Washington Parish Communications District Board meeting was held on January 04, 2005, at the E-911 Planning Office located at 1007 Cleveland Street.

Members present were: Mr. James Coleman Chairman

Mr. Mike Stogner Vice-Chairman

Mrs. Cynthia August Secretary

Mr. Gary Fenner Treasurer

Mr. Joshua Bridges

Mr. Mike Miller

Mr. Jason Verret

Members absent were: Mr. Mike Stogner Vice-Chairman

Others present were: Mrs. Joanna Thomas Manager

Mr. Kenny Gatewood Attorney

Chairman Coleman called the meeting to order at the appointed time of 6:00 p.m.

Mrs. August opened with prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States.

ROLL CALL OF BOARD MEMBERS

Mrs. Thomas called the roll. The results of that roll call are recorded above.

Chairman Coleman called for a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes of December 07, 2004, since they were mailed out to each member prior to this meeting.

Mr. Stogner made the motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes. Mr. Bridges seconded the motion. Motion passed by a unanimous vote.

Chairman Coleman asked if there were any deletions, corrections or additions to be made to the minutes of December 07, 2004. Mr. Fenner made the motion to accept and approve the minutes as written and mailed out with the revisions of that a motion was made and passed to sign the letter of engagement with Mr. Durden for the year end compilation report. Mrs. August seconded the motion. Motion passed by a unanimous vote.

MANAGER’S REPORT

I have been active during the month of December with both the normal daily operational issues of the office plus supporting our special projects. First, let me report on the daily operational issues:

Daily Operational Issues

All PSAP’s have been equipped with their new equipment and the new equipment is working well. On this past Friday, one of the four Franklinton Police Department 911 trunk lines went down due to a hum on the line. Bell checked out their part yesterday, and Gage will complete their work on Thursday. This line failure does not compromise the system due to the three remaining incoming lines.

As everyone knows Ms. Marco started her employment with us on the December 13^th and at the present time all is working out well. She is doing great job and is working very hard. Her priority over the next four months is to document the addressing procedures, address as necessary, and to stream the roads in the Parish outside of Bogalusa and Franklinton. This streaming is to enable GeoComm to make their final road location adjustments.

During this same period of time, our contract help, Don Skinner, will be streaming the roads in Franklinton and Bogalusa, and completing the roof top location data for these two municipalities.

The accounting system is working well Mr. Fenner and I continue to input the monthly financial data. We are preparing for our yearly audit and I feel sure it will be successful. There are some final entry adjustments that need to be made that Mr. Fenner will review with you during his report.

Special Projects

Cellular tower testing continues. We completed almost all of our Cingular testing last month and will be tower testing for Centennial this week. Hopefully by mid February all six wireless carriers will be running phase two location systems in Washington Parish.

These carriers are: Nextell, Verizon, Cingular, Centennial, Sprint, and AT&T.

As discussed at the public meeting attended by members of the hearing and speech impaired community, I will be organizing an American sign language course to be held in our office for those in the emergency response who may be interested. Hopefully, we will start this course in February. I will report on the projected costs of this course at our February meeting.

As you know, Ms. Johnson sold the building and we are currently leasing our office space from the new owner. The rent currently has not changed. Mr. Powe did get the

heating system fixed and will be replacing the air conditioning system. The duct work for the two offices has been separated and each has its own system.

They had to replace the whole heating system due to the fact that it was a fire hazard. In addition, our air conditioning on this side was never working and we were running off the other office’s system. Mr. Powe will be getting us a new AC system. He is also going to

make some renovations to the office next door, adding two handicap accessible bathrooms and a separate back door. We will be losing some space in the back storage room but in turn we will gain part of the office next door as well as having the whole common area for our use. They also came and changed the locks on the door in the front and on the backdoor.

Also I would like to thank Mr. & Mrs. Stogner on their generous hospitality for having us in their home for our annual Christmas dinner. On behalf of the organization, thank you.

This has been an interesting and productive month for our office. I would like to thank the board for their support and inputs.

Chairman Coleman asked for questions or comments on the Manager’s Report, and hearing none, asked for a motion to accept and approve the report as written. Mr. Bridges made the motion to accept and approve the Manager’s Report as written, and Mrs. August seconded the motion. Motion passed by a unanimous vote.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

I’m happy to report that the progress of the Commission has been excellent over the past month and that the day to day issues of the Commission have been effectively handled in the office.

PSAP Equipment Modifications

With the start up of the new Franklinton Police building, this part of our improvement project is complete.

It should be noted that if the WPSO moves their dispatcher to the old Franklinton Police Dept building, additional work will have to be accomplished to make this move.

Other Issues

It is customary that an election of officers be held during the first meeting of each year, and for informational purposes, I would like to report that all current officers have expressed a willingness to serve another year if it is the desire of the board. It is requested that the board elect their officers for 2005 during tonight’s meeting.

Mapping and Addresses

The following summarizes the progress of our various special projects:

Map Development

Map development continues forward. Projected completion date is the end of April. At this time the updated electronic map will be placed on the dispatcher’s computers and will be available for hard copy printing. In order to facilitate this completion process, I would like to recommend that three steps be completed, (1) Replacement of Rachel Marco’s desk computer for approximately $ 900, (2) Obtain a licensed copy of Map Info Professional for $ 1,400, and (3) Purchase a map printer/plotter.

The purchase of a map printer/plotter requires additional time for review by the board and will be placed on next month’s agenda. The computer replacement and software purchase is immediately necessary, and the board is requested to consider this later tonight. The present computer is the oldest in the office and has been showing signs of imminent failure. The software is necessary for map revisions in the office. These two items will be capitalized and will not go against the operating budget.

Phase 2 Wireless Implementation

The wireless Phase 2 implementation team continues to work with the carriers to manage their implementation efforts. As Mrs. Thomas mentioned, Centennial Wireless will be tested this week. This will be a partial test of their system. Remaining in this project is (1) Second phase Centennial Wireless testing, (2) Completion of the Cingular system including their two new towers in Mt Hermon and Angie, (3) Retesting the AT&T tower in Bogalusa, and (4) Testing the new Franklinton Verizon tower on Highway 10.

Dispatcher Mapping

The dispatcher mapping system, working in conjunction with our Phase 2 wireless implementation, continues to work well as Mrs. Thomas reported.

Public 911 Education

Our 911 web site continues to be updated with technical and additional data of public interest. I am encouraged by supportive remarks about the information on the web site. Since our last meeting, the site has been visited by 80 new users with 500 page hits.

Conclusions

Our agency is making much progress to improve 911 communication services in Washington Parish.

I would like to thank both the board and the staff for their hard work on the many complex challenges currently facing us.

Chairman Coleman asked for questions or comments on the Chairman’s Report, and hearing none, asked for a motion to accept and approve the report as written. Mr. Bridges made the motion to accept and approve the Chairman’s Report as written, and Mrs. August seconded the motion. Motion passed by a unanimous vote.

NEW / OLD BUSINESS

Chairman Coleman called for nominations on officers for 2005. Mr. Miller made the motion to nominate and reappoint our current officers which are Mr. Coleman – Chairman, Mr. Stronger – Vice-Chairman, Mr. Fenner – Treasurer and Mrs. August – Secretary. Mr.Bridges seconded the motion and the motion passed by a unanimous vote.

It was discussed about Mrs. Marco’s computer starting to make a noise and the it is 5 years old, so a motion was called for to replace her computer. Mrs. August made the motion to replace Mrs. Marco’s computer but not to exceed $1,000 and to obtain the necessary software. Mr. Bridges seconded the motion. Motion passed by a unanimous vote.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Mr. Fenner reviewed the financial statements beginning with the current assets. He then reviewed the balance sheet, both assets and liabilities, followed by the income and budget statements. He then reviewed the check registration, cash receipts, the account reconciliation statement and the 911 funds statement with cash disbursements.

Mr. Fenner asked if there were any questions or comments regarding any of the financial statements.

Chairman Coleman called for questions or comments on the Treasurer’s Report. Hearing none, Chairman Coleman called for a motion to accept and approve the Treasurer’s report, all the financial statements, and the checklist.

Mrs. August made the motion to accept and approve the Treasurer’s report, all the financial statements, and the checklist. Mr. Bridges seconded the motion. Motion passed by unanimous vote.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

There were no committee reports given.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no comments by the public.

Chairman Coleman called for any additional comments or questions from the members of the board. Hearing none, he called for a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Mr. Miller made the motion to adjourn. Mrs. August seconded the motion. Motion passed by a unanimous vote. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM.

As recorded by: Mrs. Joanna Thomas.

Approved by: ___________________________________

Mrs. Cynthia August, Secretary