MINUTES
Board of Directors Meeting
Jasper County Emergency Services
May 20th 2021
Chairman Fries called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. Meeting was held at the Board office, 13870 Dispatch Lane, Carthage, MO as per public notice. Present in addition to Chairman Fries, Greg Dagnan, Dan Stanley, Carl Francis, Ron Brewer, James Harrison and Tim Wilson via phone conference. Representing staff was Office Support Clerk Amber Madison and Executive Director (ED Ford) April Ford.
Sheriff Kaiser was representing the Sheriff’s Office. No other public representation.
Review and Action of Minutes
Open and closed minutes were reviewed for the Board of Director’s Meeting on April 6th, 2021.
Director Brewer motioned to approve open and closed meeting minutes for April 6th, 2021. Director Dagnan seconded the motion. Vote: 7-0. The motion was adopted.
Public Comment and Correspondence
No Public Comment
Financial Report and Payment of Bills
The sales tax deposit for February was received on March 8th, 2021, in the amount of $191,362.47. We have not received the sales tax check for March or April.
Total bills submitted for approval today $57,017.98.
The Checkbook balance after payment of bills will be $26,737.06.
Accounts receivable balance: $572.92. (Joplin Fiber).
The Money Market account balance is $1,339,467.23.
April mentioned the MEM increase and that we are working on modifying the sales tax comparison report with Director Brewer.
Director Stanley motioned to approve the financial report and the payment of the Bills. Director Francis seconded the motion. Vote: 7-0. The motion was adopted.
Executive Director Report
See Attached Report
Executive Director Ford highlighted the items in the ED report. She spoke specifically about the phone system work with Springfield-Greene Co 9-1-1 and Joplin and highlighted the 9-1-1 Saves Act. She also gave an update on staffing. There were no questions regarding her report.
Sheriff Kaiser entered the room at 12:16.
Unfinished Business
Avtec Update
Executive Director Ford advised the Board that we are just waiting to see what happens with Motorola before making any changes on Avtec.
MOSWIN Update
Executive Director Ford advised they are working with the project manager and engineers and have had several items to change regarding the new system.
Building Maintenance/Expansion/Parking Lot Update
Executive Director Ford advised she is working with civil engineer and surveying companies to get quotes for the design to help with the RFP for the parking lot.
CPE/9-1-1 Phone System Replacement
Executive Director Ford stated that they are all waiting on AT&T quotes for Viper since they maintain the Springfield-Greene Co 9-1-1 CPE equipment and would like to do the same for JASCO and Joplin.
Springfield/Greene Co 9-1-1 and JASCO Connection Plans
Executive Director Ford stated that they are still waiting on AT&T quotes to connect to Springfield-Greene Co 9-1-1 and then they will be able to decide how this will be done and if they will be working on a fiber build out or ESINet.
HVAC Maintenance and Repair
Executive Director Ford advised that the HVAC unit has been having some intermittent problems at Fire West and it may need to be replaced, but that it is a small window unit.
Clarification – End of Wage Scale Vacation Hours or Days, Retroactive, and How Far Back
Executive Director Ford stated that she wasn’t clear in her recommendation for the end of wage scale vacation compensation. She recommended that the time be in hour increments and not days, so 40 hours of vacation will be added when you have reached the end of the wage scale and not 5 days and she clarified that it will not be retroactive. The Board agreed that this will start from the date they approved it in the Board meeting.
Continuing Support on XT911 with Solacom Agreement
Executive Director Ford stated that since getting the new CPE equipment in place has been delayed, she would like to ensure our current XT911 system is protected under a maintenance agreement. Solacom originally stated end of life would be June 23rd, but they agreed to cover maintenance up to December 22nd for both JASCO and Joplin as long as both agencies agreed to this together. April reported that Cheryl Konarski at Joplin has told her that Joplin will also be paying for the continued maintenance. April asked the Board to approve the support agreement and pay $18,946.80 and she said we are down to 9 call taker positions since we have one out.
Director Francis motioned to approve the Solacom maintenance agreement and to pay the bill. Director Dagnan seconded the motion. Vote: 7-0. The motion was adopted.
Election 2021-Funding for Technology, Radios, Staffing and Expansion Projects
Executive Director Ford advised the Board that she has not heard anything out of the City of Joplin lately and that she was told the City Manager would be scheduling another meeting. She stated we need to make some decisions about the capital improvements that need to be completed in the phone technology, the building improvements and staffing, as well as the radio system and new equipment that is needed. She presented a list of technology issues and items to discuss and reported that when the ballot issue was originally passed in 1994, 27 years ago, that they couldn’t have anticipated all the changes that would occur over the years with technology and the sales tax rate and she said that Jasper County is the second lowest 9-1-1 sales tax rate in Missouri and that if we plan to ask the voters to make a change, the timing is important. She stated she has learned that the City of Joplin will have multiple sales tax issues on the August and upcoming ballots and if August was a possibility, the deadline for notice of election is on May 25th. She stated that there is a Joplin, Carthage, Oronogo and Purcell issue on the ballot, but that waiting may not be good either. She presented sample ballot language drafted by Frank Foster, legal counsel to the Board.
Director Francis added some insight about the Joplin meeting. Director Brewer gave some possible percentages of turn out at various elections. April stated she would like to have a quote from Motorola about a possible build out of a county-wide radio system. Director Brewer recommended the August election if the Board chooses to go that route. Discussion ensued about possible ballot language for an election. Director Dagnan suggested infrastructure, building, interoperability between all discipline and Chairman Fries stated this should be a county-wide radio solution. There was discussion about future money being made available for radio grants. Sheriff Kaiser also gave his suggestions regarding an election and enabling language that the county has used in the past.
Director Dagnan stepped out for a call at 1:02 p.m. and returned at 1:07 p.m.
Director Dagnan motioned to put a sales tax increase on the election. Director Harrison seconded the motion. Vote: 5-1-1. The motion was adopted.
Vote:
Fries – In Favor
Harrison – In Favor
Dagnan – In Favor
Stanley – In Favor
Francis – Opposed, because the language isn’t written yet
Wilson – In Favor
Brewer – Abstained, no reason
Director Francis spoke about past language and making sure the ballot language is clear. Further discussion ensued about the rate.
Director Dagnan amended the original motion to put a one quarter of one percent sales tax on the ballot for the August election. Director Harrison seconded the motion. Vote: 5-1-1. The motion was adopted.
Vote:
Fries – In Favor
Harrison – In Favor
Dagnan – In Favor
Stanley – In Favor
Francis – No, because the language isn’t written yet
Wilson – In Favor
Brewer – Abstained, no reason
Executive Director Ford will send out proposed ballot language and will work for Frank Foster to ensure it meets the requirements. A Special Board meeting was requested for Monday, May 24th at 11:30 to discuss ballot language.
New Business
Award Presentation
Executive Director Ford introduced several telecommunicators and presented awards with the Board. Emily Blanchard received a life saver award and stork award, Elaina Nance received a life saver award, Angela Russell received a life saver award and Jeff Boyer received a life saver award.
Bank Security Pledge
Executive Director Ford read off the security pledge from Country Club Bank as of March 31, 2021 where the original face value and book value is $2,000,000 and the market value is $1,986,440.
Director Brewer motioned to accept the security pledge as presented. Director Stanley seconded the motion. Vote: 7-0. The motion was adopted.
Surplus
Executive Director Ford reviewed the items list for surplus and presented all to go up for sale on Gov.deals with exception to the broken equipment to be destroyed.
Director Brewer motioned to surplus the items as presented. Director Francis seconded the motion. Vote: 7-0. The motion was adopted.
COBRA Subsidy Provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act
Executive Director Ford presented the new requirement to cover COBRA under the American Rescue Plan Act for terminated employees. She explained this will affect JASCO as there is one (1) terminated employee that is paying COBRA. She explained that we will be reimbursing this person for their April and May COBRA premiums and paying for all premiums on COBRA through September 30, 2021 per this new Act. She has been in contact with Beimdiek and Amber Madison has been in contact with Paychex. They say we will qualify for a payroll tax credit for this, but there is no good understanding of how that will happen. Paychex is working to resolve these questions and will get some answers before the next payroll. She wanted to make sure they know this will increase the insurance GL on the budget and it will be brought up for a budget amendment if it goes over due to this new requirement.
CAD Interface to MODOT / Cost Sharing
MODOT has been working with JASCO and Joplin trying to get an interface to our CAD to gather information as it comes in on road blockage or crash information on state highways. Central Square, the CAD vendor just sent us both an interface price for this request by MODOT. MODOT has asked JASCO to pay for part of this interface. This is not a 2-way interface and therefore, Ford does not recommend taking money out of the budget to pay for this interface. She will have our systems group continue to look at ways to make this work without cost to JASCO and try to keep the cost, if any minimum to MODOT. The Board agreed that MODOT will need to pay for this interface if deemed necessary.
HVAC Insulation of Refrigeration Pipe and Replacement of the FW Unit – Budget Amendment
The insulation on the refrigeration pipes for the HVAC system need to be replaced to help maintain the system and for the system to work efficiently. She has received a quote from CDL for $1,845.63 to re-insulate the pipes. She may have to replace the air conditioning unit at the Fire West repeater site, but will keep watch on this and will replace it if necessary.
Director Francis motioned to have the HVAC insulation work done and replace the Fire West air conditioning unit if necessary. Director Stanley seconded the motion. Vote: 7-0. The motion was adopted.
Motorola CCGW Purchase – Budget Amendment
Executive Director Ford reported that the move to MOSWIN and Motorola is getting expensive and she reported they had to purchase a new polyphaser at $816.11 and have electrical work done twice in the radio room to get ready for the equipment install. She said she will need approval to purchase a spare CCGW since they had to use the spare that was purchased under the JCSO contract. She explained how this works and why it is necessary. She said that if we want to wait until we purchase consoles, we can do so and this would only be a spare for the Motorola consoles, but he Avtec consoles will be the backup if one of the other CCGW’s goes out or stops working. Director Brewer asked if this could be tabled until we know more about this project. The purchase will cost over $6,000. Ford stated that would be fine and she will bring it back up for the 2022 budget, unless they buy equipment earlier.
Tim had to leave the call at 1:47 p.m.
Ford explained that the municipal law agencies (CJPD, CVPD, DPD, JSPD, OPD, and SPD) have been given approval from MOSWIN to go on the system for full time dispatching, but since JASCO doesn’t have the money to replace the consoles, that is not possible, but that eventually we will need to move, for it will be too difficult to maintain two different radio consoles in the center and be efficient and not have problems with cross muting. Director Dagnan stated that to be fair, we would need to have the law agencies pay for their two consoles before we could go live with them dispatching on MOSWIN and would need to do the same for all agencies. Director Francis said he would be for the sales tax increase if JASCO takes over the radio system. Sheriff Kaiser said he is spending $1.3 million on the system on his side. April explained that Carl Junction is also going MOSWIN. Director Dagnan stated that if we don’t pass a sales tax increase, then we can’t afford to buy the equipment. Sheriff Kaiser said he bought everything now to get ahead. Ford explained to the Board that she has been clear with the law agency Chief’s that JASCO cannot afford to buy the consoles and until something changes, JASCO will continue to dispatch them off NexEdge or could off Law Backup only. Sheriff Kaiser was at that meeting where Ford explained that and said the law agencies are preparing in the event something changes. Director Francis said it is a financial gain for cities if JASCO pays for the radios.
Anthem BC/BS Settlement
There is a class action law suit and settlement with Anthem BC/BS that JASCO was notified about. Ford reached out to Frank Foster, who explained that the attorneys usually make most of the money off these, but if the Board wanted to go after their portion of the premiums paid, they could and any individual employee based on their own personal premiums paid. Ford asked if the Board wanted to go after their portion or just let each employee go after their own. The Board agreed not to go after this, but Amber Madison will send out notice about this to all employees in case they want to go after it.
Jasper County Emergency Services Board announced to close for personnel records and evaluations pursuant to Mo. Statute Section 610.021 (13) (3).
Sheriff Kaiser left at 2:05 p.m.
2:05 p.m. Director Francis motioned to go into closed session. Director Harrison seconded the motion. Vote: 6-0. The motion was adopted.
Vote:
Fries – In Favor
Brewer – In Favor
Dagnan – In Favor
Stanley – In Favor
Francis – In Favor
Harrison – In Favor
2:08 p.m. Director Brewer motioned to come out of closed session. Director Harrison seconded the motion. Vote: 6-0. The motion was adopted.
Vote:
Fries – In Favor
Brewer – In Favor
Dagnan – In Favor
Stanley – In Favor
Francis – In Favor
Harrison – In Favor
2:09 p.m. Director Francis motioned to adjourn. Director Brewer seconded the motion. Vote: 6-0. The motion was adopted.
The next Board Meeting is a Special Meeting scheduled for Monday, May 24th at 11:30 a.m.
On the________ day of ________________2021
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_________________2021
I, Dan Stanley, Director __________________________ attest the Jasper County Emergency Services Board Meeting Minutes for ___________________________. They have been reviewed and are accurate.
