COWLITZ COUNTY ANNUAL REPORT

Transcription

1 COWLITZ COUNTY ANNUAL REPORT

2 MISSION STATEMENT COMMUNICATIONS CENTER MISSION STATEMENT To provide a professional, efficient and consolidated public safety communications center for processing 911 emergency and non-emergency calls for emergency response agencies serving the citizens and visitors of Cowlitz County. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Goal: Strive to provide the highest quality of service within the means provided Objective 1: Provide Staff Training using available resources Objective 2: Deliver reliable, timely and accurate services Objective 3: Maintain open communications between user agencies and the Comm. Center Goal: Remain fiscally efficient and accountable Objective 1: Seek outside funding sources Objective 2: Comply with Federal/State/Local requirements Objective 3: Continuously monitor legislative actions Objective 4: Maintain effective personnel management/operations CURRENT CHALLENGES Challenge 1: How will we manage financial sustainability when challenged with growing technical, facility, and resource needs? Challenge 2: How will we continue to provide exemplary customer service to our emergency responders, citizens, and visitors of Cowlitz County? Challenge 3: The staff is our most valuable resource. How will we continue to recruit, train, retain, and ensure effective succession planning while meeting the needs of the community, customers, and current staff? 2

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4 ACHIEVEMENTS & SUMMARY Cowlitz County 911, also known as the Communications Center, is a consolidated Public Safety Answering Point founded in The Cowlitz Communications Center (CCC) serves the needs of the general public, as well as fire, police, medical emergency and other governmental services throughout the county. The center is designed to receive and transmit information through telephone, radio, and computer (electronic) means. The service rendered by the CCC is of great value to the general public, enabling a single 911 call to be made for any perceived emergency need from any location throughout the county. This service also enables all emergency and governmental agencies to receive prompt notifications of emergency situations, details regarding the nature of such situations, the locations and the quickest routes to such locations. In addition, the CCC dispatches the appropriate emergency and non-emergency police, fire, and medical agency response of personnel in the most efficient manner. Cowlitz County 911 is governed by a twelve-member 911 Council and E-Board, who represent twelve emergency service agencies within Cowlitz County and members of an inter-local agreement. The inter-local agreement is necessary for the efficient and consistent operation of the Cowlitz Communications Center so that the individual, specific, and special needs of each of the parties is considered, and that their unique and specialized services be used in a manner that best responds to the emergency needs of the general public. It is also necessary that the cost of operation and maintenance of the center be shared in a fair and equitable manner by all of the represented parties. Cowlitz County 911 serves a population of 102,000 citizens within 40,000 households. The staff of twenty dispatchers process approximately 240,000 incoming and outgoing police, fire and medical calls annually. The CCC has been located in the basement of the Kelso, WA Hall of Justice for over 25 years. With an annual operating budget that waves around $3 million dollars, funding for CCC emergency and non-emergency services is derived from a variety of sources, including E-911 excise tax, grants, and user fees. The excise tax covers approximately 36% of the operating expenses, and the remainder is shared between member funding and grants. In 2013, the CCC implemented a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, mobile responder, and desktop application, all of which are used to enter and manage the processing and deployment of public safety calls for service. Then, in 2014, the CCC went live with PowerDMS a training database that allows for tracking and documenting of all training provided to staff. 4

5 In 2015, the CCC Director requested an assessment of the effectiveness and gaps in operations and technology, as well as a Public Safety Radio assessment. As a result of the assessments, a shortand long-term plan is currently underway to discuss, plan, coordinate, and implement many of the recommendations. The CCC has accomplished many things over the past two years, most notably, increasing dispatch staffing levels and filling the approved 20 th dispatcher position (as of August of 2015). The CCC celebrated the retirement of a 30-year veteran dispatcher. Within the last year and a half, the CCC filled seven dispatch vacancies, promoted one dispatcher to Supervisor, and hired two part-time audio technicians. Our longevity for dispatch staff is years, retention of dispatch trainees is 83%, and our attrition rate is below 10%. In addition, the CCC Department Head Secretary completed the Office LEAN training program and the dispatchers were recognized for exemplary work in handling emergency incidents on over 60 occasions. Over the past two years, several lease agreements, maintenance contracts, and inter-local and professional service contracts were drafted and approved. A professional service agreement with Public Safety Testing has improved the hiring process by reducing the number of months it takes to fill a vacant dispatch positions. Additionally, Inter-local MOUs were created and approved this year. In April, a two-year labor agreement was signed and a PERC arbitration was settled. Three employees completed Emergency Medical Quality Assurance training and were certified as EMDQAs. In addition, the administrative staff completed 160 hours of Supervisor and Management training, and 48 hours of CAD System Administrator training. Administrative and technical staff have attended numerous conferences, coordinator forums, state Policy Subcommittee planning workshops, and E-911 Advisory meetings. The CCC went live with Guardian Tracking, a transparent performance documentation database that allows for recognition and provides feedback to employees on a day-to-day basis. In the fourth quarter, the CCC was granted approval to hire one supervisor in In addition, the revised Inter-local agreement was approved, a technical committee was formed to address CAD and mobile-client issues, a three-day CAD re-assessment was delivered onsite by Intergraph, and electronic CAD events were made available to the media. The CCC staff has successfully overcome numerous challenges in 2014/2015, including reduced staffing levels, equipment failures, power outages, massive rain and wind storms, countless tragedies, and officer-involved shootings. Through it all, the Cowlitz County 911 Dispatch Staff have worked together to conquer and push past every barrier with confidence and strength. Their character is what defines them as heroes to our community and emergency responders. Over the ensuing year, expect to see new Next Generation technology, such as an upgraded phone system, Text-to-911, improved user technical experiences, increased leadership staffing, improved public communications, strategic plans for radio and operations, increased training opportunities for staff, a fully functioning back-up site, and improved collaboration with user customers. 5

6 6 USER FEES BY AGENCY

7 E-911 TAX REVENUE BREAKDOWN 7

8 8 TOTAL TELEPHONE CALLS RECEIVED

9 TOTAL TELEPHONE CALLS RECEIVED 9

10 10 TOTAL WIRELINE, CELLULAR, & VOIP 911 CALLS

11 TOTAL BUSINESS & 911 CALLS 11

12 12 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY AGENCY

13 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY AGENCY 13

14 14 PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EVENTS FOR FIRE, AID, LAW ENFORCEMENT, & OTHER

15 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY HOUR FOR FIRE, AID, LAW ENFORCEMENT, & OTHER 15

16 16 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY HOUR FOR FIRE, AID, LAW ENFORCEMENT, & OTHER

17 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY HOUR FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT 17

18 18 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY HOUR FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

19 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY HOUR FOR FIRE AND AID 19

20 20 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY HOUR FOR FIRE AND AID

21 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY DAY OF THE WEEK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT 21

22 22 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY DAY OF THE WEEK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

23 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY DAY OF THE WEEK FOR FIRE AND AID 23

24 24 TOTAL EVENTS FOR SERVICE BY DAY OF THE WEEK FOR FIRE AND AID

25 PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FIRE AND AID EVENTS 25

26 26 LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAFFIC STOPS BY AGENCY

27 LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAFFIC STOPS BY AGENCY 27