Broward County Commission Regular Meeting

MOTION TO DISCUSS request from the Broward County Consolidated Communications Committee (4C) to extend the committee for one additional year.

(Transferred to the Consent Agenda.)

ACTION:  (T-10:26 AM)  Approved, as amended, as reflected on the Tuesday Morning Memorandum.  (Scrivener’s Error – See County Administrator’s Report:  Motion currently reads:  MOTION TO DISCUSS request from the Broward County Consolidated Communications Committee (4C)…it should read, MOTION TO APPROVE Extension of the Broward County Consolidated Communications Committee (4C) for no greater than one year.)  (See Yellow-Sheeted Additional Material, dated February 7, 2017, submitted by County Administration with the Yellow-Sheeted Additional Material, dated February 7, 2017, submitted County Administration.)

VOTE:  8-0.  Vice Mayor Furr was not present. 

 

The original legislation establishing the 4C had a sunset date of two years following the creation date of January 27, 2015.

Allows the County Commission to review the request of the 4C.

On January 27, 2015, agenda item No. 10, approved the roles and responsibilities of the 4C and appointed members to serve.

On October 1, 2014, Broward County's Communication System was fully consolidated with 29 participating municipalities. The 4C was reestablished as a means of communicating the successes and challenges facing the new system and progress reporting. Members of this committee include city and county law enforcement and fire professionals; city and county elected and appointed officials; and the business community (Exhibit 1).
 

To assess the effectiveness of the system, the County Commission hired a consultant to evaluate Broward’s delivery of communications services against industry standards and best practices at the request of the County Administrator. The consultant, Fitch and Associates LLC, delivered the final report to the County in December 2016. The full report can be found at (http://www.broward.org/CommunicationsTechnology/Documents/BrowardCountyAssessmentRegional911-FinalReport12222016.pdf).

One of Fitch’s recommendations was to create a new governance model for the establishment of protocols based on the two existing Operational Review Teams, one chaired by a representative of the Police Chief's Association for police and the other by the Fire Chief's Association for fire protocols. This would allow the 4C to sunset and assure the focus of the regional system properly shifts to its primary users. Notwithstanding this recommendation, the 4C voted 7-1 to ask the County Commission to continue the 4C for an additional year to monitor implementation of the recommendations contained in the Fitch Report.

It should be noted that there are several committees, meeting monthly and/or quarterly, that will also remain including the Fire Rescue Council (facilitates coordination between the County and municipalities for countywide communications infrastructure for fire and emergency medical services associated with closest unit response pursuant to the charter); Operational Review Teams (establishes quality improvement oversight and review of the regional 911 communications center operational processes); Regional Public Safety Communications Committee (focuses on radio interoperability and computer aided dispatch); and governance boards promoting collaboration amongst the partners for Regional Law Enforcement Records Management, Regional Fire Records Management; and Computer Aided Dispatch.

Given the number of committees that will remain, if it is the desire of the Board to continue with the 4C, there needs to be clarity as to its role and responsibilities as compared to the aforementioned groups.

Alphonso Jefferson, Jr., Assistant County Administrator - 954-357-7352