MINUTES
Board of Directors Meeting
Jasper County Emergency Services
February 5th, 2019
Chairman Fries called the meeting to order at 12:14 p.m., at the Board office, 13870 Dispatch Lane, Carthage, MO as per public notice. Present in addition to Chairman Fries, Tim Wilson, Carl Francis, Dan Stanley. Representing staff was OSC Amber Madison, Executive Director April Ford, Telecommunications Officer Jeff Boyer and Telecommunications Officer Christi George.
Representing public in attendance was David Endicott with Neotech.
Chairman Fries requested an Amendment to the agenda so that the service awards could be presented at the beginning of the meeting.
Director Wilson made the motion to amend the agenda so that the service awards could be presented first. Director Stanley seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. The motion was adopted.
Executive Director Ford introduced Christi George to the board. Executive Director Ford advised the board that Christi has been with Jasco for 10 years. Executive Director Ford introduced Jeff Boyer to the board. Executive Director Ford advised the board that Jeff has been with Jasco for 20 years. She also notified the Board that Bryan Harris was receiving his 10-year service award, as well, but was not able to make it to the meeting.
At 12:25pm Team members Christi George and Jeff Boyer left the meeting.
Review and Action of Minutes
Open minutes of the Board of Director’s Meeting on January 8th, 2019 were reviewed.
Director Wilson motioned to approve the meeting minutes for January 8th 2019. Director Stanley seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. The motion was adopted.
Public Comment and Correspondence
Executive Director Ford introduced David Endicott to the board. David Endicott will be involved in the discussion of internet providers later on in the meeting.
Financial Report and Payment of Bills
The sales tax check for December was received on January 10th 2019 in the amount of $180,491.11. We have not received the sales tax check for January.
Total bills submitted for approval today $54,369.85 The checkbook balance after payment of bills will be $11,690.13. Accounts receivable balance is $0.00.
The money market account balance is $820,674.39.
Director Stanley motioned to approve the Financial Report with Payment of the Bills. Director Francis seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. The motion was adopted.
Executive Director Report
See Attached Report
Executive Director Ford wanted to add to her report that during the Police Chiefs meeting Jasper Police Chief stated that he had concerns about not getting told when things could be coming into his city. He mentioned the Barton County pursuit that came into our county. Executive Director Ford stated that she will be reaching out to the Police Chiefs to work through a new broadcast procedure. Executive Director Ford stated that LEST will be covering some of the costs to up a 5th tower and they were asking that our tower be a site for the microwave connection to the NexEdge system. Command One said our tower would hold the load of another 2 small microwave dishes for this project and the backup to the current radio console connection into the NexEdge system. Executive Director Ford advised that there is a new Senate bill that will assist with clean up language of the new pre-paid wireless line fee and identify responsibilities of the Department of Revenue. Executive Director Ford stated that Jasco might be paying out unemployment for an employee that was let go. Executive Director Ford told the board that on February 20th the Carthage Fire Department will be hosting a radio event. Departments can come by and they will look at their equipment and see if they can find ways to fix any current issues. Chief Dagnan will be in charge of this event. April will be attending and will help where they need her and she will document what is wrong with the radios. Executive Director Ford stated that the deadline to file your personal financial disclosure is May 1st 2019. If board members are late in filing, there will be a fine assessed by MEC.
Systems Manager Mike Runnebaum joined the meeting at 12:25pm.
Unfinished Business
NexEdge backup link with CW&EP /Internet Move
Executive Director Ford advised that CW&EP is wanting us to put up a point to point link. The link would need to go from the south water tower to Jasco’s tower. April has been trying to contact CW&EP with questions, but they have not been returning emails. April stated that Kurt Bleich concerns is that CW&EP owns and maintains the link and that they would be able to put anyone on it without us knowing. David Endicott recommends wireless when there is not another way. Fiber is his first choice. David stated that the radio connection is a big deal and if we were to use AT&T and Cable One fibers as a primary, then we could use wireless has a backup. He discussed rain fade and weather issues with microwave on internet will not work well for a critical infrastructure like Jasco. His recommendation was to use the existing fiber from Joplin and/or rely on the AT&T internet with the Flex IP. Executive Director Ford wants to make sure that we have an “out” with no restrictions if we go with CW&EP. Executive Director Ford stated that it is cheaper if we go with Cable One, but we would pay more for the fiber. It would be $20-30 cheaper each month. Executive Director Ford stated that if CW&EP doesn’t allow us to monitor, then we will not be able to guarantee performance, but said it is worth the try if David thought we could do it. Executive Director Ford stated that if we do a month to month contract with Cable One then we could get out at any time or we could use CW&EP as our primary internet with a microwave. We have had problems with CW&EP internet before, but it could be the same with Cable One. CW&EP internet is being recommended to end March 1st 2019 per CW&EP’s Jason Peterson. Executive Director Ford stated that it would be $2500.00 for a secondary link for the radio consoles for CW&EP. If we went with Cable One we would pay $12,000.00 for a secondary link, and we could be charged a fee for tower usage. The recommendation by NeoTech was that the primary internet needs to go on fiber.
At 12:41 pm Director Wilson stepped out of the meeting.
Executive Director Ford stated that she would need another meeting before March 1st to make a final decision. April has kept in contact with Cable One.
At 12:43 pm Director Wilson returned to the meeting.
Director Wilson, Director Francis and Chairman Fries stated that they think we need to have a wired connection, and a secondary link for radio from CW&EP, if possible. Executive Director Ford will reach out to CW&EP and Morris Strom in reference to the Black Cat tower and confirm pricing. David stated that we only use a fraction of our internet and that we could decrease the power for the fiber connection. Executive Director Ford stated that she will work with Mark Morris on this project.
Director Francis motioned to make the move to Cable One for a fiber connection. Director Wilson seconded the motion. Chairman Fries abstained. Vote: 3-0. The motion was adopted.
At 12:51 pm Mike Runnebaum stepped out of the meeting.
Executive Director Ford stated that she will talk to CW&EP in reference to a secondary link.
AT&T Flex IP
Executive Director Ford stated that she is still waiting on a contract.
Text-to-911
Executive Director Ford stated that we went live and have had good feedback. We have completed testing and are working with U.S Cellular because they are not able to provide locations.
At 12:53 pm David Endicott left the meeting.
Building Maintenance-Painting
Executive Director Fordstated that we will be repainting the lobby. A.B.E painting gave us a $400.00 quote to paint the Executive Director office and the front lobby. Executive Director Ford stated that we are going to paint ourselves and that we opened an account at Sherwin Williams.
New Business
Security Pledge
Executive Director Ford presented the securities pledge held at the Country Club Bank as of December 31st, 2018. In the book amount of $1,510,179.62 and market amount of $1,508,070.00.
Director Francis motioned to approve the Bank Security Pledge. Director Stanley seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. The motion was adopted.
Surplus
Executive Director Ford went over the surplus report and advised the Board that we purchased a new shredder, and that Neotech might take the old broken shredder.
Director Stanley motioned to approve the surplus list. Director Wilson seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. The motion was adopted.
Joplin Fiber Bill-Amendment
Executive Director Ford advised the board that during our audit, Gene Mense located a discrepancy with the Joplin/Jasco Fiber bills. When Amber invoiced Joplin in August for the fiber, they ended up paying double the amount that they should have. They paid $1,431.82 instead of paying half of the bill which would have been $715.91. April stated that we received this month’s bill and we will show a credit on Joplin’s account and not send them a bill for this month’s fiber. This month’s fiber bill was $1,431.82. We have sent a letter explaining what happened to Joplin, along with copies of the overpaid invoice and bill. Chairman Fries and April agreed that we will amend the budget at the end of the year.
457 (b) Documentation
Executive Director Ford stated that we have been working with Paychex in reference to our payroll. Paychex stated that ADP was not documenting our 457b retirement plan correctly. Paychex stated that FICA requires that employees and the employee be taxed for the 457b for Social Security and Medicare and that they recognize this as earned income. This all occurred with Gene Mense here, while he was performing our 2018 audit and he found this to be true. It is the only retirement plan recognized as earned income in the tax code by the IRS. April checked with Voya and we are not eligible to change retirement plans to anything other than the 457b due to being a political subdivision, unless we want to explore Lagers again.
April gave an example to the board of an employee’s payroll that would be taxed $5.59 for their 457b contribution of $73.13 for a single pay period and that Jasco would be taxed $126.75 for their 457b contribution to all employees for that same payroll period that totaled $1,656.83, which could end up raising the budget by nearly $4,000 annually. Director Francis stated that Webb City pays for Lagers and the employees have 457. The board discussed this and they decided that we would look into other retirement plans at budget year end. April will reach out to the Lagers representative again and talk to them about retirement plans.
NexEdge Additional Site Microwave Connectivity to JASCO
Executive Director Ford stated that Webb City PD Chief Melton asked about approval to put a microwave on Jasco’s tower to get into the NexEdge system if the LEST Board approves to pay for a 5th site into the NexEdge system. If they get the money for a 5th site, then equipment would go on the Webb City PD or Carterville PD tower. We could do a microwave direct connect from Jasco to this tower. If this happens then this could be our secondary link. This would start the microwave ring that the radio consultants were talking about. April said that Kurt with Command 1 has stated that we would have enough room for three microwaves on our tower. If the city owns it then we would have a simple MOU put into place with the City. Hopefully, this would help the radio issues that Oronogo, Carterville, and Jasper Police Department are having. The Board was in agreement that this could happen if approved.
1:17 p.m. Director Wilson motioned to adjourn. Director Stanley seconded the motion. Vote: 4-0. The motion was adopted.
The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 5th, 2019 at 12:00 p.m.
On the_________day of ______________________2019_
I, Jeff Fries, Chairman, _____________________________________________certify these
Jasper County Emergency Services Board Meeting Minutes for___________________________. They have been reviewed and are accurate.
On the _________day of_____________________2019_
I, Dan Stanley, Director __________________________ attest the Jasper County Emergency Services Board Meeting Minutes for _______________________________. They have been reviewed and are accurate.
