MEETING MINUTES
Region 3 700 MHz Meeting No. 5
Hosted by the Casa Grande Fire Department
Casa Grande, Arizona

January 9, 2002
  1. Meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by 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 4th RPC meeting. Mr. Joe Noce, Mesa Communications, requested amendments to the minutes of the 4th RPC meeting. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes as amended. Motion was adopted unanimously.
  4. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:
    1. FUNDING: Joe Noce reported that the committee fund balance is $2,500.00. The committee continues to wait for additional information regarding additional funding that may be available in the next fiscal year budget from NIJ.
      1. Curt Knight indicated that he had received a formal request from the City of Mesa to reimburse them for expenses incured by hosting RPC organizational meeting. Total reimbursement to Mesa is $518.03. A motion was made and seconded to approve this reimbursement. The membership unanimously approved the motion.
    2. BYLAWS: Phil Lense reported that no new activity has taken place by this committee
    3. STRATEGY: Curt Knight opened the floor for nominations for a chairman of this subcommittee.
      1. No nominations were received from the floor.
  5. OPEN DISCUSSIONS/PRESENTATIONS:
    1. NEXTEL: Scott Tillman presented Nextel’s proposal for 700 and 800 MHz band interference resolution. Nextel's plan, including detailed band plans, have been posted on the Yahoo list server for every ones use. Considerable discussion followed.
    2. H.E.R.O.: Curt Knight the RPC Chairperson gave a brief overview of Homeland Emergency Response Operations Network Act (HR 3397) recently introduced in the House of Representatives as a result of Terrorist Acts of September 11th, and how it may affect our 700 MHz planning efforts. Further information will be provided, as it becomes available.
  6. OLD BUSINESS:
    1. Strategy Committee: The Chairman expressed his concerns regarding the lack of movement and volunteer to chair the Strategy Committee. Once again a call for volunteers for a permanent chair for this subcommittee was made.
    2. Executive Overview: Scott Tillman (DPS) provided the attendees an executive overview of the new 700 Mhz Public Safety Band. A copy of this overview (What - When - Who - Why) was provided to each attendee and is also available on the 700MHz RPC Yahoo List Server.
    3. RPC Activity: The Chair asked Don Pfohl (Mesa Comm) for some input on where Region 3 RPC activities stands in relation to RPC activity taking place around the country. Don stated that he thinks that we are close to the top and are way ahead of most states in the planning process.
    4. The Chair briefed attendees concerning a letter sent to the FCC by the Department of Public Safety which informed them that the State has formed a Public Safety Communications Committee (PSCC) which would assume the role of the State Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) recommended by the FCC. This committee will administer the State Interoperability Channels allocated in the 700 MHz band and is made up of representatives on a statewide basis. A copy of this letter is available on the 700 MHz RPC Groups list service at Yahoo.com. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZ700RPC/)
    5. 700 MHz State Managed Spectrum: DPS applied for the 2.4 MHz of spectrum allocated to the State by the FCC in May of 2001.
    6. 700 MHz State Interoperability Spectrum: DPS applied for the 2.6 MHz of spectrum reserved for StateWide Interoperability on the behalf of the PSCC in December of 2001.
  7. NEW BUSINESS:
    1. DPS has made contact with the league of Cities and Towns and will be taking the 700 MHz issues and Public Safety Communications issues to this body and solicit their help and influence on a local as well as national level.
  8. VENDOR:
    1. Motorola announced the successful testing of other P25 Subscriber Manufacturers operating on Motorola's P25 compliant infrastructure. The press release is available on Motorola's Web Site.
  9. OTHER RELATED ACTIVITY:
    1. Public Safety Wireless Network Symposium (PSWN) will be held in Charleston, South Carolina on January 29 - 31, 2002
    2. The APCO Western Regional Conference will be held at Phoenix Civic Plaza from March 20 - 22, 2002. A presentation by Tom Tolman of NPSTC will be included during this Conference.
    3. PSCC is working on presenting a one-day PSWN symposium targeted to elected and appointed Public Officials in Mid April 2002.
    4. The PSCC and DPS are looking at the feasibility of a fall 2002, PSWN symposium for Arizona and Western regional participation.
  10. Next Meeting will be held in Phoenix, in conjunction with the APCO Western Regional (March 20-22), exact date to be announced.
  11. The 5th Region 3 RPC meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.