Be careful! That was the warning APCO legal counsel Bob Gurss gave attendees to one seminar. He noted that a "near fatal" pedestrian accident occurred in front of the convention center on Monday. He reminded everyone to use the crosswalks.

The 8 a.m. business meeting was actually listed in some schedules as starting at 7:30 a.m. Whew!

Why did APCO vote on Life Members at its first business meeting? They explained that there were certain Life-only activities during the week, and they wanted the newly-elected to join in.

Lyle Gallagher learned the value of wireless 911 the hard way--he and his wife were stuck between floors in a Marriott Hotel elevator. The emergency phone was nothing but static, he said, so he made a wireless 911 call to be rescued.

Is someone going to the White House? During the 9-1-1 for Kids program, Nancy Swanson, who serves as the group's president, alluded to the program "going to the White House." No details yet.

Is Red E. Fox a boy or girl? Well, we can only say that <today>, it was a girl beneath the costume.

DISPATCH Monthly Magazine's Coverage of the
Annual APCO Conference

APCO Board Passes Resolution,
Youthful Hero Honored in Ceremonies

The second day of the annual conference began early--if you wanted to attend the association's first business meeting and vote on various issue. But there was also the 9-1-1 For Kids ceremonies, the opening of the exhibit hall, and the continuing series of education seminars to start your day.

Also, APCO announced a joint resolution with NENA to help focus attention on the Phase II and PBX-ALI issues, and we visited the just-opened Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center.

At 8 a.m. a group of fewer than 80 voting members trickled into the convention center for the association's first business session-- there were perhaps another 40 non- voting members in a separate section of the room. The group handed out several awards to its members and gave the first reading of amendments to its Constitution and By-Laws. [APCO's photos]

The chairs of APCO committees received individual awards, as did the regional frequency coordinators. The Florida Chapter was honored for the largest increase in members during the year, while the Pacific Chapter was cited for the largest percentage increase in membership. North Dakota, a perennial winner, was honored for having the highest percentage of its population as APCO members.

Greg Ballentine of the Missouri Chapter was formally nominated for the position of second vice-president. He's running unopposed, but in a short speech, said he had chosen to continue his campaign to make as much contact with APCO members as possible.

This year's Life Members were nominated and voted on by the quorum--there were no dissenting votes. The new Life Members are: Jimmie Hocutt (Wash.), Thomas Catino (Atlantic Chapter), Roxann Brown (Ore.), Ken Keim (Ore.) and Lyle Gallagher (ND).

Two amendments were offered for first reading--the final vote will occur after the second reading on Wednesday. The first amendment revises the criteria for APCO's "Life" membership classification, while the second revises the definition of the "Senior" membership classification. An amendment was offered from the floor on Resolution #1, allowing membership in the National Association of State 911 Administrators as a possible additional method of qualification.

Buying Suggestion

In the category of "other business," past-president Jack Keating came to the audience microphone and noted that during Friday and Saturday's executive council meetings there was "considerable discussion" on the issue of 911, particularly the wireless and PBX issues on which APCO committees have worked so hard.

Right now, neither wireless 911 calls, or calls made from behind a PBX report their location.

"The council, in its wisdom, decided to hopefully push those efforts a step further," Keating said, "by adopting a resolution dealing with the procurement of wireless and PBX systems." Essentially, the resolution called on local, state and federal government agencies to purchase (or otherwise obtain) only wireless and PBX gear that is location compatible.

Keating read from a portion of the resolution, which he said had been reviewed and endorsed by the board of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). "We now have, much to my great pleasure, we have a united front between APCO, NENA and NASNA," he said.

The resolution concluded that, "Be it resolved that APCO recommends that local, state and federal agencies ordering new wireless equipment or services, or extending the contract for existing wireless equipment and services, give preference to wireless groups or providers who provide the area served by their agencies precise location information to PSAPs via 911 or whatever appropriate emergency number that's called."

He continued, "And be it further resolved, that APCO recommends that local, state and federal agencies ordering multi-line telephone systems give preference to equipment providers whose equipment is equipped to provide precise location information, including building number and room number..."

Keating pointed out that the resolution does not recommend or endorse any specific technology or equipment provider, but simply suggests a purchasing decision that favors location technology.

Thera Bradshaw, 1st vice president added that the resolution to encourage local governments to "use the power of your purchasing."

Good Kid

The 9-1-1 For Kids program honored a Utah youth for properly using 911 to report an emergency.

Joonwoo Park was a passenger in a car driven by his mother when she experienced breathing problems. After pulling over to the side of the road, Joonwoo dialed 911 on his mother's cellular phone and reached Orem (Utah) dispatch Kathy Fisher, who talked to the youth, obtained his location and sent units to assist. [APCO's photos]

Before the ceremonies there were plenty of interviews--with Joonwoo, with APCO president Lyle Gallagher and 1st vice president Thera Bradshaw. In fact, the APCO officials watched as Park was interviewed. Park's mother watched over him closely and was obviously very proud of her son.

During the actual ceremonies, Red E. Fox appeared to meet a stage-full of local youngsters. The kids watched as Gallagher presented Park with his award.

Thera Bradshaw (left in photo) mentioned that San Francisco mayor Willie Brown has endorsed the program, and will put it in all of the city's 363 schools. She and Gallagher challenged other chapters around the county to embrace the program and use it to improve public education in their state.

The 9-1-1 For Kids program will apparently be expanding to a global operation, with something called "Disaster Ready." The program's Web site is about to be re-done with more educational materials, video and games to support the purpose of 911 education.

Immediately after the 9-1-1 For Kids ceremony, Gallagher stepped over and used a huge pair of scissors to formally open the exhibit hall. [Linda Olmstead's photos]

Model Center

Our tour of the new Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC) began enthusiastically--the tour bus driver greeted us, "This center is, like, super near!"

And indeed it is. Built with $7.5 million of privately-placed bond money in 11 months (after 18 months of planning), the center in the city of West Valley overlooks the city of SLC and the mountains beyond. It was designed with extensive dispatcher input, and includes lots of "feel good" features, as well as enough technology to get the job done.

The 25,000 square-foot center replaces, and improves upon, the much smaller center that was located inside the city offices in Murray. That center is now a distant memory, according to Gary Lancaster, assistant director of the center and our tour guide.

The center handles dispatching for 15 fire and 8 law enforcement agencies, and is the primary 911 answering point for those agencies and Salt Lake County. It fields about 3,500 telephone calls and dispatches some 1,900 incidents each day.

The first thing you notice upon arriving is the huge bank of windows that permits an eastward view of Cinerama proportions. Back inside, the huge dispatch floor is one-third empty--room for expansion. The very high ceiling has hanging acoustical tile to cut room noise. The 33-position Watson consoles are completely adjustable, allowing stand-up dispatching. All the terminals are flat-panel types. The consoles are generally arranged in pods of four, separated by function (fire vs. law and supervisors).

Besides the dispatch floor, there are adjacent supervisors offices, reception area, a break room with patio, a computer and MIS room, huge training room (with a wall of windows looking into the dispatch floor), lockers (with very neat slots for paperwork), admin offices, computer and equipment room, and the home for Utah's Communications Agency Network (UCAN).

By any stretch, the VECC is one of the most well thought-out and pleasingly designed centers we've seen in a long time. These surroundings are bound to positively affect the final dispatching product.

Plague or Issue?

The session was advertised as "The PBX and 9-1-1," but when the session started, moderator Nancy Pollock (exec. director, Metro 911 Board, Minneapolis-St.Paul) flashed the first slide that was titled, "The Plague of the PBX." That was a tip-off.

Pollock was joined by Mary Boyd (Intrado), Rick Hessinger (North Dakota state radio) and David Tuttle (director, Peoria, Ill. comm center). She made the point that after much "whining" about the issue of PBXs not reporting the location of their extensions during 911 calls, APCO president Lyle Gallagher told her to get something done.

So, Pollock told the audience, with lots of assistance from others, she has done something. APCO has produced model legislation, updated the association's Web page to consolidate tons of information on the issue, and have generated a joint filing to the FCC from APCO, NENA and NASNA on the issue.

Pollock said that APCO had been waiting for NENA to submit a filing to the FCC, and then APCO would have supplied supporting comments. "We were waiting for that filing, and waiting for that filing," she said. Now, not only is the filing finished, but it has the joint backing of all three organizations.

Pollock noted that only seven states have any type of PBX legislation, and only three of those are considered "comprehensive." She said the APCO PBX committee is looking for more information from other states on their legislation or attempts at same.

Tuttle chronicled the attempt by the state of Illinois to mandate PBX extension locating. The original law was written in 1993, but heavy lobbying from business interests kept pushing the deadline back, and modifying what types of premises were exempted. The key 40,000 square-foot requirement was pushed and shoved to create more or fewer exemptions. At one point schools were considered for exemption, Tuttle said, but the plan was later dropped in the wake of school violence incidents.

APCO's action plan on the PBX issue is to form partnerships with NENA and NASNA, file the joint petition with the FCC, increase education among the public and government officials on the issue, generate tools and resources for public safety agencies to use in tackling the issue, and push legislative initiatives.

Pollock said that state-by-state legislation could be effective. However, she warned that, "Even when you think it's done, it's not done," since that's when the lobbying from special interests will begin.

Indoor Snowboarding

At the traditional MANAPCO night, conference attendees poured into two gigantic exhibit halls to eat, dance and watch some Olympic-level athletes do stunts with snowboards, short skis and other footwear--on a trampoline. As they entered, everyone received a handsome, cast medal on a ribbon. [APCO's photos]

The surrounding food stations featured ice sculptures, there were roving musicians, and a "Stomp"-like group making music. it was perhaps the largest indoor MANAPCO event ever--there were scores of tables where attendees could find a seat. [Linda Olmstead's photos]