Call to Order and Welcome:

The second quarter meeting was held this date at the Statehouse Inn, Montgomery, Alabama. The meeting was called to order by President Russ Bowers. First time attendee Ms. Teresa Wildcutt of Fayette County, Alabama was welcomed.

President Bowers called for approval of the January 1999 and March 1999 minutes. It was noted that the January minutes reflected Ms. Mary Buckalew as the "former" Jefferson County Commissioner. Minutes are corrected to read "current". Minutes from the March 1999 meeting are corrected to reflect "Mr. Richard Holt" rather than "Mr. Roger Holt". Mr. Art Faulkner of Elmore County made a motion to accept the minutes with the corrections. Mr. Roger Wilson of Walker County seconded the motion. There was no discussion. Minutes were approved unanimously.

Mr. Brad Smith, 1st Vice-President, submitted the quarterly financial report. It was noted that a deposit was made from refund of dues (National NENA). It was also noted that reimbursement had been received from some agencies' Language Line usage. Mr. Smith again asked that each agency identify themselves in order that the service be billed and collected properly. Mr. Bill Brodeur of Etowah County made a motion to approve the financial report as submitted. Mr. Seth Phelps of Baldwin County seconded this motion. Discussion consisted of Mr. Bill Meadows of Lee County explaining that he had paid Victory Engraving for a gavel and would like reimbursement. Several others discussed that Victory Engraving had been paid also…Mr. Smith asked that Mr. Meadows submit his bill for reimbursement. There was no further discussion and the financial report was approved unanimously as submitted.

Committee reports were called for. Mr. Bill Meadows reported that Mr. Mike Hubbard had been bee put on the CMRS Board, but they had not heard anything on further legislation. Mr. Meadows stated that he understood that getting the CMRS "rules" up and going held priority over other issues. He suggested that the Legislative Committee could begin to concentrate on Minimum Standards and that the road sign issue still needed work. He suggested that a good time to submit further legislation would be after the Lottery vote. Mr. Meadows suggested further work on the "PBX" issue. Discussion was held as to which issues were the most pertinent and in what order they should be submitted. It was suggested that the "PBX" and road name/sign issued would be an amendment to the existing law. More discussion was held on flat rate charges and the possible decrease in flat rates charges in the future. Mr. Meadows suggested that information from states that have already encountered these issues would be useful.

Mr. Art Faulkner stated that he was concerned that it would appear to the Legislators that each year our legislation was related to money. He stated that he would like to see work done showing what is being done with the money that was granted in past legislation. Mr. Faulkner used the example of establishing Minimum Standards with the explanation that this is where part of the money we have gotten is going. He suggested waiting another year before introducing a request for any additional funding legislation.

Further discussion was held as to the possibility that the Minimum Standards issue would need to be a separate bill and would take approximately a year of further work. Who would handle and how the training would occur were discussed. Mr. Roger Wilson asked that the previous Minimum Standards paperwork be found and given to the Dispatch Standards Committee for review.

President Russ Bowers reported that the 1999 Conference was under way. He reported that letters had gone out to the vendors and further information would be forthcoming.

Ms. Kelli Brasher reported that there was concern regarding timely completion of work orders submitted to SCC. She suggested that each County request a year to date summary of the submitted vs. completed paperwork. Ms. Brasher expressed concerns that there was pending "errors" that the Counties’ were not aware of.

Mr. John Ellison of Shelby County 9-1-1 requested that he be approved to purchase "virus" detecting software. He reported that while opening a file on the Internet, he had picked up a "bug". As Chairman of the Internet Committee, he suggested that the expenditure of approximately $100.00 would be worthwhile in order to prevent future contamination. Mr. Ellison also asked for approval to add the submitted ECD list to the AL-NENA Webpage. He stated the he would like to get the ECD list on the WebPages and eventually have relational information for each agency available. John also stated that he had begun working on the Conference Website.

Mr. Ellison reported on the "Task Force". He stated that preliminary work had been done to get a "feel" for a State Database. Initial charges and benefits were discussed. Mr. Seth Phelps informed the members that a similar discussion would be held at the Florida State NENA Conference. Mr. Ellison reported that he hoped to have some preliminary information available in approximately two to three weeks and would have a further report for the October meeting.

Mr. Roger Humphrey of Cullman County reported that the minutes from the Dispatch Standards Committee meeting had been posted on the Web site. Mr. Humphrey stated that Ms. Joe Trainer and Sgt. Michael Lee had been appointed to this committee. He asked for a copy of the Minimum Standards bill as previously submitted for their review.

Mr. Jerry Jackson of Calhoun County requested that educational materials be added to the NENA Library. Mr. Jackson requested that a set of approximately seven books be purchased at a cost of $225.00. The Board and membership approved this request. Discussion was held regarding the usage of this resource and the need to be kept current.

President Russ Bowers reported that the AL-NENA officers had been bonded for $100,000.00 each as directed by the membership. He also asked for approval of funds for the officers to attend the National Conference as in years’ past.

For the good of the membership, Mr. Bill Meadows reported that he had been approached by vendors stating that it would be necessary to "re-address" their county in order to get information for Phase II conversion. Discussion was held that most programs used for addressing allowed for Lat./Lon conversion. It was cautioned that when purchasing a product to be sure that the software could convert this information.

Mr. John Ellison discussed the possibility of contacting a dispatcher involved in the Columbine, Colorado incident to do a session at our October conference. He also made a motion to contribute $500.00 to a dispatcher involved in a situation where she was on duty when her own house burned. This motion was seconded and there was no further discussion. The motion carried with unanimous approval.

Mr. Bill Meadows informed the membership that Lee County would be holding a couple of disaster drills in their schools during the month of May. He asked that anyone who could assist with the video of these drills contact him.

It was discussed that the NENA video equipment would be transferred to the E.O.C. in Chilton County. Mr. Donnie Smith made a motion that the equipment is held at the E.O.C. Mr. Seth Phelps seconded this motion and the vote was unanimous.

Mr. Brad Smith informed the membership that Ms. Chris Heger would no longer be able to do the AL NENA newsletter. Discussion was held as to the usefulness vs. cost of this edition. It was pointed out that no one submitted materials for the newsletter therefore it became a county project. In the future, Mr. Brad Smith (editor) will do a one page or so letter with meeting information and anything submitted prior to the next quarter meeting.

President Russ Bowers suggested that the membership have an audit of the existing "books" of the Chapter. He indicated that this could be useful when approaching the Legislature. Mr. Bill Meadows made a motion to look into the parameters as to the need of this audit and to begin a budget with the 1999-2000 year. The motion included that a report be available at the October meeting. Mr. Roger Humphrey seconded the motion. There was no further discussion and the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Jerry Jackson asked had anyone else been approached to release their address/database information. He felt that under the non-disclosure agreement that this was information that they were unable to release. There was discussion as to various AG opinions and the "publics need to know". Mr. Ray Preston of BellSouth indicated that there were certain conflicts with the Tariff that restricted this information. Mr. Bill Brodeur stated that the law provides for an ongoing emergency release of information. Mr. Roger Wilson stated that they released the information to anyone who needs it in an emergency situation. Mr. John Ellison stated that it was important to know "who’s" information was being released. If this is address information collected during an address project, then there was no violation of the Tariff. There was further discussion as to the cost recovery for selling this information to the general public. Mr. Ray Preston stated that as long as the ECD did not release telephone number or subscriber information that this was not a violation.

Ms. Marcia Scott of Jefferson County stated that she was having a problem contacting the LEC/CLEC’s. Several people came forward with contact names and numbers.

Mr. John Ellison offered to host the next quarterly meeting to be held July 22, 1999.

Lunch was held at the Holiday Inn, Montgomery Alabama and the Wireless Public hearing was to follow at the Statehouse Inn.

Meeting was adjourned.

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