Wireless Subcommittee Minutes

King County E911 Office

7300 Perimeter Road South, Seattle

October 16, 1997 – 9 a.m.

Present: Marlys Davis, Wireless Committee Chair, King County; Allen Jakobitz, Bob Oenning, State E911 Office; Doug Gehrke, US West; Lynn Mell, XYPOINT; Al Kear, GTE; Andre Sterling, GTE Wireless; Mel Boston, CENCOM; Patty Johns, Lewis County 911; Dave Nye, Western Wireless; Rod Proctor, Proctor & Associates; Ross Baker, AT&T Wireless. Conference Call Attendees: Thera Bradshaw, Clark County; Bob Greene, Blue Mountain Cellular.

1. Approval of September 18, 1997 meeting minutes

Approved as written.

2. Discussion on Project Costs of Phase II Service, 911 Network Upgrades, and PSAP Equipment Upgrades.

After discussing several scenarios, it seems that currently the best approach is to emulate today’s operations. That is, certain items are eligible in WAC for state assistance, because it is necessary for E911. These same items plus the wireline and wireless network charges were used to estimate the cost for each county. It is estimated that $285 million will be needed over the next five years to pay for the cost of implementing Phase I and Phase II.

There was an additional discussion concerning the fact that some counties have committed existing tax revenues for items not considered to be eligible under the current WAC (i.e. capital projects, staffing). When calculating county costs, this needs to be taken into consideration.

3. Discussion on State and County Tax Rates to be Proposed in Legislation for Wireline and Wireless.

It is universally agreed that wireline and wireless subscribers should pay the same level of tax. In setting the tax rate, an effort was made to allow the largest number of counties as is practical to be able to cover their own costs through the county tax rate alone without state assistance. The current recommendation is 75¢ for the county tax rate and 20¢ for the state tax rate. At these rates, there would be eight counties that do not require state assistance. Increasing the county rate substantially only moderately increases the number of counties able to support themselves.

4. 1998 Legislation Discussion.

The current, October 15, 1997, legislation draft was reviewed. A copy can be obtained by contacting the State E911 Office.

There was concern that county commissioners need to be fully on-board to support the increase in taxes, because the state legislature may only allow the county tax to increase. Each county would then separately have to pass their own taxing ordinance.

King and Clark counties have indicated that this legislation is a major concern for their counties for the next legislature.

The FCC is promising to issue a clarifying order the end of this year, which could possibly extend the Phase II implementation by a year to 2002.

It was recommended that a presentation and draft copy of the Senator West study be provided at the Washington Association of Counties legislative conference being held early in November.

Because government information is public, King county cannot sign a non-disclosure agreement with the wireless companies to get their wireless count projections. The wireless companies were going to check if sharing the information with a private 3^rd party vendor would be acceptable, so the privacy of individual companies can be protected.

5. Report from US West on Phase I Interconnection Service.

Cell Trace will be available in the Seattle, Vancouver, Bremerton, Yakima, Spokane and Tacoma routers in October. Orders can be taken in November. Pasco service will be delayed until the end of the year.

6. Report from GTE on Phase I Interconnection Service.

Routers will be available in Chelan and Benton early in 1998. Mt. Vernon and Everett routers will be available in Spring 1998. Tacoma is being considered as an additional router site. Phase I testing is underway in Oregon.

7. Updates from Wireless Companies on Delivery of Phase I Service.

Airtouch Cellular did not report.

AT&T Wireless Services reports they will be reducing proposed charges and will release the final numbers soon. The initial cost will be slightly over $2 and the monthly charge will be 25¢.

Blue Mountain Cellular has had no requests for Phase I, but can respond. Counties can request WA 95 ANI.

Columbia River Cellular did not report.

GTE Wireless reports that translations are in place and they will do testing on Phase I. Counties can request WA 95 ANI.

Inland Cellular Telephone Company did not report.

NEXTEL did not report.

Sprint PCS did not report.

United States Cellular did not report.

Western Wireless reports it will not begin service until 1998, but will be prepared at that time to deliver Phase I.

8. Report on Status of NENA Standards for ALI Screen.

Darold Whitmer was unavailable to report.

9. Update on Which Counties in Washington State Have Ordered Phase I Service.

GTE Wireless indicated that Kitsap had ordered Phase I.

Other

No additional wireless subjects were discussed.

The next meeting is scheduled at the King County 911 Office at the King County Airport, 7300 Perimeter Road, south, Seattle on Thursday, November 13 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Future meetings will be held from 9 to 12 at the King County 911 Office on December 11, 1997.

Assignments Made

• Hank Cramer, State E911 Office, will set up a meeting with wireline carriers to diagram trunking from the mobile switching centers to the tandem to determine network costs for the October 16, 1997 meeting.
• Hank Cramer, State E911 Office, will lead a group of county people to look at CAD equipment cost projections for the October 16, 1997 meeting. Lewis, Pierce and Kitsap counties volunteered to be part of that group.
• Marlys Davis, chair, will conduct a subcommittee meeting October 16, 1997, to discuss security issues.
• Darold Whitmer, SCC, will follow up on NENA standards for ALI.
• Bob Oenning, State E911 Office, will determine if the Department of Revenue can sign a non-disclosure statement to obtain wireless companies’ projections.
• Bob Oenning, State E911 Office, will determine what subscriber information the FCC expected to be provided in ALI records.
• Bob Oenning, State E911 Office, will provide copies of the draft legislation to 9-1-1 coordinators for comment.
• Marlys Davis, chair, will present the current work group recommendations to the E9-1-1 Advisory Committee at the October 23, 1997, meeting.