The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My Public Portal About2019_11_26_R181 Emergency Communications CenterThe Town of Leesburg, Virginia RESOLUTION NO. 2019-181 A RESOLUTION: PRESENTED: ADOPTED: November 26, 2019 November 26, 2019 MAINTAINING AN INDEPENDENT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER AT THE LEESBURG POLICE STATION AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM TO UPGRADE THE COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH SYSTEM AND THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WHEREAS, the Town of Leesburg Public Safety Center opened in 1997 at 65 Plaza Street, and is open to the public 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and WHEREAS, the Public Safety Center includes the Town's Emergency Communications Center (Town ECC) which employs 13 civilian dispatchers who have a primary mission to answer original and Loudoun County transferred 911 phone calls from the public while providing radio communications to police officers in the field; and WHEREAS, in April 2017, the County of Loudoun Board of Supervisors (BOS) directed County staff to examine the potential to consolidate the functions of the different public safety agencies involved in emergency communications and public safety into a single entity; and WHEREAS, Loudoun County (County) hired Federal Engineering, Inc. to work with various County departments including the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and Loudoun County Fire and Rescue; and WHEREAS, the Leesburg Police Department (LPD) was also invited to participate as the BOS requested input from the Town of Leesburg (Town) regarding technology upgrades that would maintain emergency caller information, improve and/or eliminate transfer of call time, and be fiscally responsible; and WHEREAS, in June 2018, County staff presented the BOS with the results of the Loudoun County Emergency Communications Center (Loudoun ECC) Consolidation Study; and WHEREAS, one of the recommendations from the study included a request to allow the County to dispatch LPD law enforcement calls. However, if declined, to direct County staff to -2- A RESOLUTION: MAINTAINING AN INDEPENDENT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER AT THE LEESBURG POLICE STATION AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM TO FULLY UPGRADE THE COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH SYSTEM AND THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM continue the dialogue with the Town to consider all options, resources, and technological requirements to reduce the transfer time for calls between the Town ECC and the County ECC; and WHEREAS, the County ECC dispatches all fire and emergency medical service calls within the Town of Leesburg; and WHEREAS, although the Town ECC has its own Call Handling Equipment (CHE), Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD), and Records Management System (RMS), all of these systems are outdated and need to be upgraded and/or replaced; and WHEREAS, Town and County staff held several discussions to enhance the operations of the Town ECC; and WHEREAS, the County's Fiscal Year 2020 budget includes an allocation in the Capital Improvements Program for contingency funding up to $2 million to cover County technology and implementation costs associated with the implementation of Town access to the County's CAD and RMS System should Leesburg agree to dissolve the Town ECC and permit the County to dispatch LPD; and WHEREAS, as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 budget process, Council approved Town Resolution No. 2019-050 on March 26, 2019 that provided the following direction: • Directed the Town Manager to initiate discussions with the County of Loudoun to develop a Memorandum of Agreement to potentially participate in the County's Emergency Communications Center. • Directed the Town Manager to contract with a technical consultant to evaluate a potential replacement and upgrade of the Town's Emergency Communications Center. • The General Fund budget was amended and a supplemental appropriation was made from the General Fund Unassigned Fund Balance in the amount of $40,000 to obtain consulting -3- A RESOLUTION: MAINTAINING AN INDEPENDENT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER AT THE LEESBURG POLICE STATION AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM TO FULLY UPGRADE THE COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH SYSTEM AND THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM services to fully assess the operational, fmancial, and technological aspects to potentially replace and upgrade the Town's Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD), Records Management System (RMS). • Directed the Town Manger to report back to Town Council at a future work session on a proposed Memorandum of Agreement with the County of Loudoun, and with the technical consultant's recommendations; and WHEREAS, beginning in the summer of 2019, the Town contracted Mission Critical Partners to provide an assessment of the Town's existing public safety answering point (PSAP) technology; and WHEREAS, Mission Critical Partners, in coordination with Town staff, conducted an evaluation of the Town's Emergency Communications Center, recommended the following action steps: 1. The Town should consider implementation of a new Computer Aided Dispatch system (CAD), Records Management system (RMS), and Mobile Data system (MDS) that meets it needs and fiscal requirements. 2. The Town should consider implementation of a new Call Handling Equipment system (CHE) to include the purchase of a multimedia logger/recorder system. 3. The Town should conduct a subject matter expert led assessment of its geographic information system (GIS) data to determine its readiness for use in the Next Generation 911 (NG911) environment. 4. The Town should seek official secondary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) status with both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Commonwealth of Virginia; and -4- A RESOLUTION: MAINTAINING AN INDEPENDENT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER AT THE LEESBURG POLICE STATION AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM TO FULLY UPGRADE THE COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH SYSTEM AND THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WHEREAS, on October 22, 2019, Council approved Town Resolution No. 2019-161 which authorized the Town Manager to immediately proceed with upgrading the Call Handling Equipment for the Emergency Communications Center at the Leesburg Police Station with an appropriation in the amount of $450,000 from the Fiscal Year 2019 unassigned General Fund balance in order to receive the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and Automatic Location Identifier (ALI) from the Loudoun County Dispatch Center; and WHEREAS, also in Town Resolution No. 2019-161, the Council authorized the Town Manager to pursue official status as a secondary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for the Leesburg Police Emergency Communications Center; and WHEREAS, the Town's Emergency Communication Center Computer. Aided Dispatch System (CAD) and the Records Management System (RMS) are outdated and need immediate replacement; and WHEREAS, the Council further discussed the Town's Emergency Communications Center at their November 25, 2019 Work Session. THEREFORE, RESOLVED, by the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia hereby approves the following: SECTION I. The Town will continue to maintain an independent emergency communications center at the Leesburg Police Station, and respectfully declines the County of Loudoun's offer to assume all responsibility for dispatching services for the Leesburg Police Department; and SECTION II. The Town's Fiscal Year 2020 Capital Improvements Program is hereby amended, and the approved project, "Replacement/ Upgrade CAD/RMS System (20002)", will be revised to reflect the utilization of short-term financing as the funding source for the $520,000 cost -5- A RESOLUTION: MAINTAINING AN INDEPENDENT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER AT THE LEESBURG POLICE STATION AND AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM TO FULLY UPGRADE THE COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH SYSTEM AND THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM of upgrading of the Town's ECC Computer Aided Dispatch System and the Records Management System, and; SECTION III. The Town Manager is hereby directed to proceed immediately, and is authorized to execute all necessary contracts, in a form approved by the Town Attorney, in order to fully upgrade the Town's ECC Computer Aided Dispatch System and the Records Management System. PASSED this 26th day of November, 2019. Town of Leesburg ATTEST: Clerk of Council LF\LeesburgRMS\Town_Clerk\Resolutions\2019\1126 Emergency Communications Center