MEETING MINUTES

Region 3 700 MHz Meeting No. 4
Hosted by the Tucson Police Department

Tucson, Arizona
September 28, 2001
  1. Meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by Captain Richard Harper of the Tucson PD (Host). After brief introduction, the meeting was turned over to Curt Knight (RPC Chairman).
  2. Each attendee introduced themselves and their agency affiliation. List of attendees is attached.
  3. Attendees reviewed the minutes from the 3rd RPC meeting. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes as written.
  4. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:
    1. FUNDING: Joe Noce reported that a check for $2,500.00 was received from NIJ to support the activities of 700 MHz Regional Planning Committee. The Arizona APCO Chapter will be the fund manager.
      1. Don Pfohl (City of Mesa) will submit a report for reimbursement (estimated at $360) for hosting the first meeting of the Region 3 700MHz Planning Committee held on April 11th, 2001.
      2. The committee has applied for supplemental funding to continue the Coordinating Committee for next fiscal year. The amount of the available grant is unknown, but will probably be less than the startup grant. Will know if the funding was approved very soon.
      3. The committee also talked to Phoenix PD (Carol Campbell) and Mesa PD to have their respective grant people look for any possible additional funding.
    2. BYLAWS: Phil Lense reported that a new Yahoo list server has been added for the Bylaws subcommittee. A file has been uploaded to the list server that was generated by NYSTEC entitled "700-MHz National Pre-allotment".
    3. STRATEGY: Curt Knight opened the floor for nominations for a chairman of this subcommittee.
      1. A question was raised: What is the purpose of the Strategy Subcommittee?
      2. Answer provided by Don Pfohl: This subcommittee takes a high-level look how 700MHz is administered statewide: How does Arizona want to use 700Mhz? Who will use it—e.g., some states allow utilities. Do we? Curt Knight supplemented Don’s answer: Long-term support of the bylaws where the bylaws deals with the nuts and bolts of the organization itself. Provide guidance to the Bylaws Subcommittee. For example, make sure that the bylaws allow all entities to have access to the 700MHz band.
      3. No nominations were received from the floor.
      4. Paul Wilson (acting chair) indicated that the subcommittee has not met yet. He handed out a strategy report which suggested the following needs:
        1. bylaws
        2. mutual aide and sharing agreements
        3. frequency coordination group
        4. interoperability executive committee
      5. Paul also handed out copies of the appendices to the NCC (National Coordination Committee) documents: Agencies to consider for interoperability; suggested channel coordination flow chart.
      6. Once again a call for volunteers for a permanent chair for this subcommittee was made. No takers.
    4. Current subcommittee membership stands at:
      1. FUNDING SUBCOMMITTEE:
        1. Chairperson - Joe Noce (City of Mesa Communications)
        2. Members:
          1. Paul Wilson (City of Mesa Fire)
          2. Don Pfohl (City of Mesa Communications)
          3. Carol Campbell (City of Phoenix PD)
      2. BYLAWS SUBCOMMITTEE:
        1. Chairperson - Phil Lense (City of Phoenix Communications)
        2. Members:
          1. Ed Ryan (Grand Canyon Red Cross)
          2. Gail Denny (City of Scottsdale PD)
          3. Don Pfohl (City of Mesa Communications)
          4. Jim Perry (City of Tucson)
          5. Rick Tannehil (AZ State DPS)
          6. Dan Shearer (Highland FD)
          7. Ken Thomas ( Yuma County)
      3. STRATEGY SUBCOMMITTEE: (We are looking for someone to volunteer as the committee chair)
        1. Chairperson (Temporary) - Paul Wilson (Mesa FD)
        2. Members:
          1. Rick Tannehil (AZ State DPS)
          2. Bob Frey (Mesa Communications)
          3. Scott Tillman (AZ State DPS)
          4. Everett Wittig (Cochise County)
          5. Mark Griffin (City of Chandler)
          6. Chuck Brotherton (Maricopa County)
          7. Nate White (Phoenix Fire)
          8. Phil Lense (City of Phoenix Communications)
          9. Harold Pierson (SW Ambulance/Rural Metro)
          10. Joe Noce - (Mesa PD)
          11. Carol Campbell (Phoenix PD)
          12. Joe Jakoby (City of Tucson)
          13. Bob Ciotti (Phoenix Transit)
          14. Kevin Rogers (NAU PD)
          15. Garry Willie (Navajo EMS)
          16. Richard Benson (Yuma County)
  5. NEW BUSINESS:
    1. Phil Lense, Scott Tillman and Don Pfohl initiated a round table discussion about the NYSTEC (New York State Technology Enterprise Corporation) Technical Proposal document entitled "700-MHz National Pre-allotment." The proposal was submitted to NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council) on August 7, 2001.
      1. NYSTEC is a long-standing non-profit organization with expertise with subject at hand.
      2. NYSTEC proposes to allocate 700MHz channels based primarily on county boundaries.
      3. Their formula is based on two parameters: population and population density. The concept was developed from PSWAC user density models. Even if a county’s population/population density doesn’t warrant any channels, the proposal provides a minimum channel allocation of 3 voice channels and 1 data channel. This is different than the way it is done in the NPSPAC band today. Certain large cities such as Phoenix or Tucson would be considered as if they were counties in order to make sure that adequate channels are available for these entities. This is similar to what is currently done in the NPSPAC band today.
      4. The document is a proposal to solicit comments. It is intended to be changed to accommodate local situations.
      5. The proposal suggests using the Okamura propagation model for interference and service area determination (NPSPAC rules use Carey, which was not adequate for mountainous states like Arizona).
      6. Proposal suggests the use of a national database for coordinators to use. This database would be populated with the pre-allocated channels described by this document.
    2. NPSTC newsletter (Issue no. 1) announced by Curt Knight and made available to attendees.
    3. Border Issues: Don Pfohl indicated that 700MHz band requires no treaties or agreements and that the FCC will allow licensing on a non-interference basis.
    4. Scott Tillman announces his single-page document "What is 700MHZ?" It is a non-technical explanation on what the 700MHz band is and why it is important. This document is for administrators who are non-technical. To be posted later.
    5. Curt asks questions that were raised at the last meeting: Do we have specific due date for a plan from this Committee? Scott Tillman and Don Pfohl: No, but the NCC is chartered until April of 2003. The State of Arizona must decide whether or not they are going to administer the interoperability channels by December 2001. The FCC says that TV must vacate the band by 2006. The spectrum is already available in Arizona, however. Once the plan is done, we can license.
    6. Announcement: There will be a PSWN (Public Safety Wireless Network) program meeting on Oct 23-26, 2001 in Las Vegas.
    7. Question from audience: When could we begin to license after the plan is done? Answer from Rick Tannehill: the plan would be at the FCC for six months. Don Pfohl pointed out that Congress had mandated that the FCC begin licensing by the end of 2000. This was not met.
    8. Comments from Vendors:
      1. MACOM (Dave Bremson): Open Sky is pretty much ready for 700Mhz EDACS next, maybe mid next year.
      2. Motorola (Floyd Cagel): Expects to have product when licensing begins.
    9. Joe Noche comments that givebacks might be available for agencies that can’t afford 700MHz.
  6. Next Meeting: CASA GRANDE, date to be announced.
    7.
  7. The 4th Region 3 RPC meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Phil Lense.