911 Subcommittee
Meeting Notes
December 17, 2001

  1. The new "911 Committee" is a subcommittee of the Emergency Services Committee and formed to enhance the integration of the SFTR into the 911 structure of the Las Animas County.
  2. Dennis Scott agreed to chair the committee and members are Rick Johnson, Mike Hughes, and Jim Davis.
  3. The initial meeting of this committee was at the Davis Home, at 4:30, with all members present.
  4. Summary.
    1. The county is expected to comply with E911 structure and services. E is for enhanced and refers to integrating the county structure with mobile phones. Presently basic 911 service does not exist for many in the city, county and SFTR.
    2. Prior work has been done by Jim Davis and Mike Hughes. Jim briefed the committee on the background and history of the issue. Rick added info. So did Mike and he also provided a detailed memo on the subject and well as notes and an EXCEL spread sheet on preliminary work renaming roads on SFTR. It appears that the current numbering and addressing system on the ranch will not comply with E911 basic guidance and a grid system for location and numbering.
    3. Discussion followed and it was agreed that Dennis should contact the county for current info and guidance on the next SFTR effort. The contact person in the County Planner office is Aimee DuRan. Dennis will contact her for a meeting in mid January given he is already committed until then. The committee agreed the level of urgency was not high.
    4. It appears that the basic activity will be: validating and or adjusting the current road names on SFTR; defining an address numbering system that fits with the county E911 grid system.
  5. Impact on the SFTR POA and residents at this point would be the turmoil usually caused when one changes his/her address, and many if not most of the road identification signs would need changing. The positive impact would be a working E911 system with proper emergency system response.

Dennis Scott, Chair Person

Notes of Activities Subsequent to the Initial Committee Meeting

Dennis secured a meeting with Aimee DuRan, the county E911 project person for Thurs January 31.

At the meeting of County Commissioners in mid Jan, Mike White, the chair of the County E911 Board Authority, brought Debbie Tellez, an E911 consultant, and she presented her "vision" of E911 for the county. She said that given an enormous amount of work done by Aimee Duran, that the county could have an operational E911 system by late this summer. The biggest problem is the price tag for hardware, software , and salaries for the system operators. Her estimate was about $400,000 total -- half for the E911 consoles, vehicle equipment and installation, and then half for a state-of-the-art GIS tracking system. Tellez seemed to think that the state could mandate that the county install an operational system very soon. The bottom line of the commissioners meeting was that the E911 Board Authority should schedule a demonstration by one of the companies that could supply the full system. The city and county have just finished balancing their budgets for the year, so funding the system is likely to be an agenda item at the following city and county board meetings. An article on the trinidadco.com web site is from the Jan 22 Trinidad Plus and does a good job of explaining the issue.