Illinois Valley Regional Dispatch met Feb. 28

By Angelica Saylo Pilo

Apr 28, 2023

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was held Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at the Peru Municipal Building, 1901 4th Street, Peru, Illinois. Chairman Kellen called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

ROLL CALL

Voting & Quorum Members Present: Leo Hochstatter (Boelk), Jason Curran, John Duncan, Brian Fisher, Jeff Grove, Joe Hogan, Jerry Janick, Jeff King, Mike Margis, Mike Smudzinski, Vire Chairman Popurella, Chairman Greg Kellen. Absent: Doug Bernabei, Ken Kolowski, Dominic Rivara, Dennis Rutishauser.

Non-Voting Members Present: City of Spring Valley

MINUTES

Chairman Kellen presented the minutes of the IVRD meeting of January 31, 2023. John Duncan made a motion the minutes be received and placed on file. Joe Hogan seconded the motion. All in favor; motion carried.

PUBLIC FORUM (CITIZEN COMMENT)

None

COMMUNICATIONS

Jeff King made a motion to receive and place on file certificate of insurance from the Earlville Fire Protection District. Jeff Grove seconded the motion. All in favor; motion carried.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

FIRE/EMS OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

The Fire/EMS Operations Committee will meet on March 15, 2023.

LAW ENFORCEMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

None

LABOR MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

John Duncan reported committee members have had general discussions with Executive Director Miller-Guss and the IVRD labor attorney. The committee is waiting on the TC’s representative for meeting dates.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT

Executive Director Miller-Guss provided the following report:

• MABAS Conference – Last week Carlie Brockman and I were part of a group presentation at the MABAS conference in Bloomington. The Presentation was on the Grand Bear Fire and included Assistant Chief Partain, Assistant Chief Maltas, and Ottawa Central Dispatch. The presentation was given to the chiefs and then the next day to the dispatchers. MABAS has already asked us to return to present on the Caras Fire next year.

• Part-Time Employees - Three part-time employees have started:

o Erica Grote of Dixon, IL. Erica has 13 years of experience as a TC working for Lee County and Twincomm in Sterling.

o Kaitlyn Baxter of Spring Valley. Kaitlyn currently works part-time at Blanco Kays Corgiet Eyecare.

o Beth Michael of Spring Valley. Beth worked in the ER in Peru as a registration clerk on the night shift.

• Structured Call Taking - We are still set to go live in late April.

o Our Dispatch Review Committee Nominations have been finalized. This group will review statistics, draft policies, and guide problematic calls.

o I will chair the committee. IVRD quality improvement unit members will be Jena Martin, Jen Hunter, and Kim Blair. Responder members are Brad Anderson, who will represent police, fire, and medical; Sarah Kinkin, who will represent law enforcement and Kody Gapinksi (Utica Fire), who will represent fire and Ems.

o We will need follow-up Fire/EMS and Law Enforcement Committee meetings shortly to review responses. I will get with the chairs to set those up.

o We held a law enforcement, fire, and medical certification course at IVCC for those who wanted to attend in person. We still have employees attending online courses to be ready for go-live.

• LEADS Transition – Mendota was completed last week.

• MABAS Summit Reimbursement – We received overtime reimbursement for just over $900. This was for our employees who attended the summit held in November at IVCC.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Chairman Kellen reported the Avaya phone system is down or partially down depending on the municipality. Ficek Communications has found it to be a Comcast internet outage issue, and unrelated to anything with IVRD. 9-1-1 and incoming administrative phone lines at IVRD are fully functional. IVRD cannot make outgoing calls. We will be relying on the radio and cell phones for outgoing communication. Extension to extension calling is down. Some calls can be made but you cannot hear the party you dialed when they pick up. Peru, Spring Valley and La Salle Police administrative lines are forwarding to IVRD. Mendota and Oglesby Police administrative lines are not forwarding to IVRD. The public should be notified to utilize the IVRD administrative line 815-224-6029 or 9-1-1 should they need police assistance unless you have an alternative phone line that is functional. What to do now: Test internally and externally to see how your municipality is affected. Note: This may be different depending on how your municipality communicates with the phone system. Notify your municipality of the outage and your functionality. Institute phone downtime procedures depending on functionality.

REPORTS

FINANCIAL REPORTS

Chairman Kellen presented and reviewed the January financial report. Jeff Grove made a motion to receive and place the January financial report on file and to approve and pay bills in the usual manner. Jason Curran seconded the motion. Melissa Carruthers called the roll with Hochstatter (Boelk), Curran, Duncan, Fisher, Grove, Hogan, Janick, King, Margis, Smudzinski, Popurella and Kellen voting aye; Bernabei, Kolowski, Rivara, Rutishauser absent; motion carried.

Jason Curran made a motion to approve payment of Certificate for Payment Pay Application No. 10 from the Vissering Construction Company in the amount of $10,000.00 for work completed to December 31, 2022. Jeff King seconded the motion. Melissa Carruthers called the roll with Hochstatter (Boelk), Curran, Duncan, Fisher, Grove, Hogan, Janick, King, Margis, Smudzinski, Popurella and Kellen voting aye; Bernabei, Kolowski, Rivara, Rutishauser absent; motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS

Joe Hogan asked if any new part-time employees were looking for full-time employment. Chairman Kellen stated he does not know if any part-time employees are interested in full-time employment.

Joe Hogan stated to contact him if IVRD is in need of JETSB support dollars for anything.

Jeff King reported the City of Peru is seeking bids for tuckpointing the exterior of the IVRD building, which will tie into the Fire Department building work. Drains are also being addressed.

NEW BUSINESS

None

RESOLUTIONS & ORDINANCES

None

PUBLIC FORUM (CITIZEN COMMENTS)

None

EXECUTIVE (CLOSED) SESSION

None

SCHEDULE NEXT IVRD MEETING

The next IVRD meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, March 28, 2023.

ADJOURNMENT

Jeff King made a motion to adjourn the meeting. John Duncan seconded the motion. All in favor; motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 10:19 a.m.