Monday, September 05, 2005
SFD Firefighters off to the Gulf Coast...
Six members of the SFD are headed to Atlanta (their first stop) to help with the Katrina Disaster. We'll keep you posted at to what they're up to.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Thanks for House Save...
Hi there!
Just wanted to pass along a "THANK YOU" from local rental property owner Mr. Danny Robles. He lives in California and spends time here occasionally to handle his properties. I have worked with him for several years in the west and north central neighborhoods on some of his more "challenging" properties.
He said, "Tell everyone in the Fire Department THANK YOU for saving my house on Madelia and Desmet! If you all wouldn't have shown up when you did, the house would be lost." He went on to rave about the need for our services and spoke to the news about not cutting the fire department any more. He went on along the same lines for quite some time, but you get the gist. So thank you for all you do! People really appreciate it and it's nice to hear once in a while.
Take care!
*Lisa Jones, Fire Marshal
Spokane Fire Department
Just wanted to pass along a "THANK YOU" from local rental property owner Mr. Danny Robles. He lives in California and spends time here occasionally to handle his properties. I have worked with him for several years in the west and north central neighborhoods on some of his more "challenging" properties.
He said, "Tell everyone in the Fire Department THANK YOU for saving my house on Madelia and Desmet! If you all wouldn't have shown up when you did, the house would be lost." He went on to rave about the need for our services and spoke to the news about not cutting the fire department any more. He went on along the same lines for quite some time, but you get the gist. So thank you for all you do! People really appreciate it and it's nice to hear once in a while.
Take care!
*Lisa Jones, Fire Marshal
Spokane Fire Department
SFD Response to Katrina
All:
Our Nation is faced with the most catastrophic natural disaster in modern times and FEMA has called upon the Nation's fire service to aid the affected citizens and communities. The United States Fire Administration has contacted the nation's career fire departments in order to mobilize our available and willing members within Federal guidelines. Local 29 and Administration have agreed to support this activity with the understanding that personnel participating shall arrange their individual shift trades.
The current need is for the deployment of 1,000 two-person teams. A department may offer more than one two-person team, however since these people will be deployed as a team they must know one another prior to deployment. This initial request is for full-time career firefighters that are employed by municipal government and sponsored by that municipality because of the way that salaries and expenses will be reimbursed. They must be: Physically capable of performing manual tasks under severe conditions; Experienced in working with minimum supervision; Capable of living in austere, severe living conditions with minimal or no creature comforts for a period of at least 30 days; Free of medical condition(s) that would prevent them from working in these conditions for this period of time; and, Able to work within the ICS, provide basic first aid, and follow orders.
The work is non-operational community relations focused activities that consist of direct outreach to persons in the affected areas. They will assist victims in understanding how they will go about the process of getting Federal assistance, distributing information, providing minimal first-aid, and taking reports. The work will be outside, exposed to the elements and will require significant walking.
FEMA will notify the Chief of Department, and selected applicants will be notified by their Chief of Department that they have been selected. NO ONE SHOULD DEPLOY WITHOUT NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE FROM FEMA. Selected applicants will report to a central location in the Atlanta, Georgia area for training and further deployment. Travel to the Atlanta, Georgia area will be per government authorization in a manner specified upon acceptance. Acceptance information will also cover lodging and other related expense reimbursement information.
APPLICATION PROCESS
The application process is the exact same process as applying for a National Fire Academy resident course. Applicants will complete FEMA Form 75-5A (short form) general application which can be found at:
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/training/nfa/about/attend/nfa-abt1c.shtm
In box 12a. "Course Code and Title" the applicant should enter "COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPLOYMENT" and "L282". In Box #21, please fill in the names of BOTH team members. No other course information is required on the application, but everything else must be completed. This is the form that will be used for reimbursement to the department or jurisdiction. Additional salary / personnel information will be required upon acceptance. The application must be fully completed and signed by the Chief of the Department or the Chief's designee. The application should be faxed to 301-447-1234. A scanned completed/signed application can be emailed to: firehire@dhs.gov
The department must submit two applications (one team). Single individual applications will not be accepted.
We will notify the first 1000 teams of their acceptance and process any additional applications in the event that they are needed in the future.
Submission of an application DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE TEAM HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. Acceptance is a second, separate process. The Chief of the Department or designee will be notified of the teams' acceptance, and provided deployment information.
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION FOR THE TEAM BEING DEPLOYED
· If you are accepted, you will be given specific further directions from the Chief of Department.
· Each team should bring a basic medical jump kit (bandages, BP set) to provide minimal first aid. You will be provided government ID in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
· You will be deployed with another member of your organization as a team and will be working with that person for the duration.
Following are items which you must bring with you:
· sleeping bag
· personal hygiene necessities
· medications
· insect repellent
· sun screen
· rain gear
· Flashlight and batteries.
We cannot guarantee that you will have a vehicle or a means to transport or store gear. FEMA will provide you with FEMA shirts. Remember that you may have to carry with you everything that you bring for the entire time. Finally, please ensure that members of your family can function without your presence for at least 30 days.
Please contact me if you have any question or are interested in applying.
Brian Schaeffer
City of Spokane Fire Department
Assistant Fire Chief
44 West Riverside Ave
Spokane WA, 99201
Office: 509-625-7002
www.spokanefire.org
Our Nation is faced with the most catastrophic natural disaster in modern times and FEMA has called upon the Nation's fire service to aid the affected citizens and communities. The United States Fire Administration has contacted the nation's career fire departments in order to mobilize our available and willing members within Federal guidelines. Local 29 and Administration have agreed to support this activity with the understanding that personnel participating shall arrange their individual shift trades.
The current need is for the deployment of 1,000 two-person teams. A department may offer more than one two-person team, however since these people will be deployed as a team they must know one another prior to deployment. This initial request is for full-time career firefighters that are employed by municipal government and sponsored by that municipality because of the way that salaries and expenses will be reimbursed. They must be: Physically capable of performing manual tasks under severe conditions; Experienced in working with minimum supervision; Capable of living in austere, severe living conditions with minimal or no creature comforts for a period of at least 30 days; Free of medical condition(s) that would prevent them from working in these conditions for this period of time; and, Able to work within the ICS, provide basic first aid, and follow orders.
The work is non-operational community relations focused activities that consist of direct outreach to persons in the affected areas. They will assist victims in understanding how they will go about the process of getting Federal assistance, distributing information, providing minimal first-aid, and taking reports. The work will be outside, exposed to the elements and will require significant walking.
FEMA will notify the Chief of Department, and selected applicants will be notified by their Chief of Department that they have been selected. NO ONE SHOULD DEPLOY WITHOUT NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE FROM FEMA. Selected applicants will report to a central location in the Atlanta, Georgia area for training and further deployment. Travel to the Atlanta, Georgia area will be per government authorization in a manner specified upon acceptance. Acceptance information will also cover lodging and other related expense reimbursement information.
APPLICATION PROCESS
The application process is the exact same process as applying for a National Fire Academy resident course. Applicants will complete FEMA Form 75-5A (short form) general application which can be found at:
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/training/nfa/about/attend/nfa-abt1c.shtm
In box 12a. "Course Code and Title" the applicant should enter "COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPLOYMENT" and "L282". In Box #21, please fill in the names of BOTH team members. No other course information is required on the application, but everything else must be completed. This is the form that will be used for reimbursement to the department or jurisdiction. Additional salary / personnel information will be required upon acceptance. The application must be fully completed and signed by the Chief of the Department or the Chief's designee. The application should be faxed to 301-447-1234. A scanned completed/signed application can be emailed to: firehire@dhs.gov
The department must submit two applications (one team). Single individual applications will not be accepted.
We will notify the first 1000 teams of their acceptance and process any additional applications in the event that they are needed in the future.
Submission of an application DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE TEAM HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. Acceptance is a second, separate process. The Chief of the Department or designee will be notified of the teams' acceptance, and provided deployment information.
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION FOR THE TEAM BEING DEPLOYED
· If you are accepted, you will be given specific further directions from the Chief of Department.
· Each team should bring a basic medical jump kit (bandages, BP set) to provide minimal first aid. You will be provided government ID in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
· You will be deployed with another member of your organization as a team and will be working with that person for the duration.
Following are items which you must bring with you:
· sleeping bag
· personal hygiene necessities
· medications
· insect repellent
· sun screen
· rain gear
· Flashlight and batteries.
We cannot guarantee that you will have a vehicle or a means to transport or store gear. FEMA will provide you with FEMA shirts. Remember that you may have to carry with you everything that you bring for the entire time. Finally, please ensure that members of your family can function without your presence for at least 30 days.
Please contact me if you have any question or are interested in applying.
Brian Schaeffer
City of Spokane Fire Department
Assistant Fire Chief
44 West Riverside Ave
Spokane WA, 99201
Office: 509-625-7002
www.spokanefire.org
IAFF Disaster Relief Fund for Katrina victims...
Sorry, it's taken so long to post anything about Katrina, but it's been pretty hard to come up with anything adequate to say. And I'm certain this won't even come close.
After criticizing the priorities of our current administration and the way they spend our money, all that's left is the reality of the biggest catastrophe our country has ever experienced. The breakdown of a prosperous city into an immense cauldron of floating corpses, murder, rape and destruction was something I never expected to see in our own country. As families in attics, hospitals and churches lose hope, realizing that there will be no rescue, I feel angry and frustrated. You probably feel the same way too, because of our shared profession.
In Spokane, it's been a figurative "open season" on rescuers - due to layoffs and lack of funding from the city. We are severely hampered in doing our job. We all have stories of buildings we would have saved, people that would still be alive, if we had not lost 20% of our staffing.
But in New Orleans, it's a literal "open season" on rescuers. Even the remnants of the National Guard, those not deployed in Iraq, find themselves under fire.
I'm sure we're all going to give something to help, whether it's through the IAFF link above, or through some other avenue. But, when you read the news and hear the stories, giving money almost seems like a meaningless empty gesture. But, sometimes, that's all you've got.
If anyone has news about actually going down there to help in rescue efforts, let me know and I will post it.
Sorry about the morose tone of this letter. And thank you very much for reading it.
John
After criticizing the priorities of our current administration and the way they spend our money, all that's left is the reality of the biggest catastrophe our country has ever experienced. The breakdown of a prosperous city into an immense cauldron of floating corpses, murder, rape and destruction was something I never expected to see in our own country. As families in attics, hospitals and churches lose hope, realizing that there will be no rescue, I feel angry and frustrated. You probably feel the same way too, because of our shared profession.
In Spokane, it's been a figurative "open season" on rescuers - due to layoffs and lack of funding from the city. We are severely hampered in doing our job. We all have stories of buildings we would have saved, people that would still be alive, if we had not lost 20% of our staffing.
But in New Orleans, it's a literal "open season" on rescuers. Even the remnants of the National Guard, those not deployed in Iraq, find themselves under fire.
I'm sure we're all going to give something to help, whether it's through the IAFF link above, or through some other avenue. But, when you read the news and hear the stories, giving money almost seems like a meaningless empty gesture. But, sometimes, that's all you've got.
If anyone has news about actually going down there to help in rescue efforts, let me know and I will post it.
Sorry about the morose tone of this letter. And thank you very much for reading it.
John
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Testing for District 9 in September or October
Jack Cates - President of Local 2916 says that it looks like District 9 will be hiring soon. The test will probably be in September or October. They will probably be hiring around 4. Thank you Jack for the news.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
City Council is looking for your suggestions...
They've heard from Greg, Mike and Mark. They've told the Council ways that the city could save money (or make money) in the Fire Department. Councilperson Mary Verner, responding to the story about American Airlines, is asking for your individual suggestions. Please take a moment at home or work, to respond to her request. I've heard a lot of good ideas out there. Email CityCouncilMembers@SpokaneCity.org to let the entire Council hear your ideas and, hopefully, get us back on track.
Thanks, John
Thanks, John
A letter that John sent to city officials. Click to see the article:
Bankrupt American Airlines' CEO started paying attention to what its workers (union members) had to say about doing their jobs more efficiently, instead of just listening to department heads. The result? Profitability.
From the article:
"Two years ago, American was dodging bankruptcy, and labor strife hit a peak after unions voted to accept steep pay cuts, only to find out that management had given itself big bonuses and protected their pension plans from creditors in the case of bankruptcy. Unions were livid and temporarily suspended approval of the givebacks.
Call that the nadir. The board reacted almost immediately, ousting CEO Donald Carty and eventually bringing in Gerard Arpey, who put into place the current employee-based turnaround plan."
The article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0725/p01s03-usec.html
Thanks,
John Griffith
Local 29 E-Board
From the article:
"Two years ago, American was dodging bankruptcy, and labor strife hit a peak after unions voted to accept steep pay cuts, only to find out that management had given itself big bonuses and protected their pension plans from creditors in the case of bankruptcy. Unions were livid and temporarily suspended approval of the givebacks.
Call that the nadir. The board reacted almost immediately, ousting CEO Donald Carty and eventually bringing in Gerard Arpey, who put into place the current employee-based turnaround plan."
The article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0725/p01s03-usec.html
Thanks,
John Griffith
Local 29 E-Board
Saturday, July 30, 2005
DES. Is it worth it? From Bill Jackman...
The Spokane County Department of Emergency Management (also called Department of Emergency Services DES) is the Spokane County version of FEMA. It also includes Dave Byrnes (the former SFD EMS officer) who is the Region 9 director of Homeland Security for the ten counties in Eastern Washington. The State of Washington is divided into nine regions, based upon population.
The only three significant events that DES was involved in from my memory were:
1.) Mt. St Helens 5/80
2.) Fire Storm 10/91
3.) Ice Storm 11/96
Mt St. Helens was an inconvenience, Ice Storm, was managed by Avista and the folks with chainsaws and as for Fire Storm – it never even came close to the city. If the City spent an average of $75,000 a year for DES for the past 25 years, that only averages out to $625,000 per emergency. Did Spokane get it’s $625,000 in value from County DES from any of these events? Add to this a $500,000 emergency situation room in the new SFD training center.
I didn’t realize the City of Spokane funds about half of DES. In reality, I think there are many of us on the SFD that could generate a pretty good report as to why DES could be significantly reduced in size. It’s not like we live in Florida where disasters are common. The real crisis here is how to best spend the limited financial resources of the city.
DES also helps distribute FEMA grant money for training and equipment. The City of Spokane Fire Department has received 2 – 3 grants for equipment, each grant was based on a 70/30 split (FEMA/local). This was after our twenty-plus million dollar, 1999 Fire Bond for new equipment and facilities.
DES is great for retired people working a second career. They have ties to local agencies, which in turn support their efforts but also don’t question their actual worth or value. The 2004 city share of $158,727.21 was no bargain for Spokane. The only true emergency management service in Spokane - is the Spokane Fire Department.
Bill Jackman
The only three significant events that DES was involved in from my memory were:
1.) Mt. St Helens 5/80
2.) Fire Storm 10/91
3.) Ice Storm 11/96
Mt St. Helens was an inconvenience, Ice Storm, was managed by Avista and the folks with chainsaws and as for Fire Storm – it never even came close to the city. If the City spent an average of $75,000 a year for DES for the past 25 years, that only averages out to $625,000 per emergency. Did Spokane get it’s $625,000 in value from County DES from any of these events? Add to this a $500,000 emergency situation room in the new SFD training center.
I didn’t realize the City of Spokane funds about half of DES. In reality, I think there are many of us on the SFD that could generate a pretty good report as to why DES could be significantly reduced in size. It’s not like we live in Florida where disasters are common. The real crisis here is how to best spend the limited financial resources of the city.
DES also helps distribute FEMA grant money for training and equipment. The City of Spokane Fire Department has received 2 – 3 grants for equipment, each grant was based on a 70/30 split (FEMA/local). This was after our twenty-plus million dollar, 1999 Fire Bond for new equipment and facilities.
DES is great for retired people working a second career. They have ties to local agencies, which in turn support their efforts but also don’t question their actual worth or value. The 2004 city share of $158,727.21 was no bargain for Spokane. The only true emergency management service in Spokane - is the Spokane Fire Department.
Bill Jackman
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Coeur d'Alene Golf Tournament
The Coeur d’Alene firefighters are hosting a second annual charity golf tournament. Last year we had a great time and would love to see some support from Spokane Fire people. The tournament is a scramble and starts at 1300 on August 19th at Twin Lakes Village in North Idaho. The money raised will go to the American Cancer Society.
I have attached an entry form. Please contact me if you require any further information.
John G. Morrison
Fire Captain
Coeur d'Alene Fire Department
(208) 769-2340
jmorrison@cdaid.org
I have attached an entry form. Please contact me if you require any further information.
John G. Morrison
Fire Captain
Coeur d'Alene Fire Department
(208) 769-2340
jmorrison@cdaid.org
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Pacific Northwest Firefighters Golf Tournament
The Spokane Firefighter's Golf Club will be hosting the 53rd annual Pacific Northwest Firefighter's Golf Tournament this year. The SFD is one of five host cities with the other four being Portland, Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma. The Tournament will be held at the Deer Park Golf Club on August 3rd and 4th. There will be a hospitality room on the 2nd and 3rd at the Ramada Inn at North Pointe. The Tournament is open to all active and retired firefighters of all golfing abilities. We are hoping for a large turn out from the members of our department. So far Portland has 20 members traveling over for the Tournament. The entry form and more information are attached.
Any questions call me at Station 8-C or home
Thanks, Jamie
Any questions call me at Station 8-C or home
Thanks, Jamie
From Chief Williams regarding the phones...
Greg:
I talked to Garv this morning after the Cabinet meeting about your email. He assures me that they continue to dedicate City IMS resources to try to figure out what is going on that is causing this problem. They have involved Cisco (the phone manufacturer) as well as the providers of the phone lines. They are having daily conference calls among all of the players to try to solve this issue.
As a reminder, the red phone in the station is available if folks need to make calls rather than using their cell phones. These phone should be working since they are outside of the network (no one has reported that they have had problems with the red phones).
This situation is frustrating for everyone but I can assure you that it is a priority for our IMS folks who are in regular contact with the City IMS personnel. Garv has promised that this is the top priority for his department and it will remain that way until it is resolved.
Thanks!
Bobby Williams
I talked to Garv this morning after the Cabinet meeting about your email. He assures me that they continue to dedicate City IMS resources to try to figure out what is going on that is causing this problem. They have involved Cisco (the phone manufacturer) as well as the providers of the phone lines. They are having daily conference calls among all of the players to try to solve this issue.
As a reminder, the red phone in the station is available if folks need to make calls rather than using their cell phones. These phone should be working since they are outside of the network (no one has reported that they have had problems with the red phones).
This situation is frustrating for everyone but I can assure you that it is a priority for our IMS folks who are in regular contact with the City IMS personnel. Garv has promised that this is the top priority for his department and it will remain that way until it is resolved.
Thanks!
Bobby Williams
Monday, June 27, 2005
Looks like I spoke too soon on phones (in more ways than one).
From Local 29 President Greg Borg
Mayor West,
I returned to work today, Sunday 26th to find that our phone were out on the 23rd and the computers would not let us log on today. One of the people on my shift was able to get the secondary computer to work so I could read and answer my e-mails. While I appreciate Garv's answer it does not answer my questions. Can we get a telephone line in the station that works until this is fixed? I know Qwest can have a phone installed by Wednesday, on a phone line that works all the time. Can our computers be taken off line until you fix them so we can have access?
I am having people use my personal e-mail so I can get city notices. I am using my cell phone to do city business. I thought the system might be fixed when we returned. It has been a week.
Respectfully, Greg
Mayor West,
I returned to work today, Sunday 26th to find that our phone were out on the 23rd and the computers would not let us log on today. One of the people on my shift was able to get the secondary computer to work so I could read and answer my e-mails. While I appreciate Garv's answer it does not answer my questions. Can we get a telephone line in the station that works until this is fixed? I know Qwest can have a phone installed by Wednesday, on a phone line that works all the time. Can our computers be taken off line until you fix them so we can have access?
I am having people use my personal e-mail so I can get city notices. I am using my cell phone to do city business. I thought the system might be fixed when we returned. It has been a week.
Respectfully, Greg
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
More on the phones...
I was forwarded this from Councilman Joe Shogan. It is a response to our questions about the phones from Garv Brakel, head of the city's IMS Division. A public thanks to the mayor, to our city councilmembers and especially to Mr. Brakel for answering Local 29's questions regarding the history behind the new phone system. It sounds like they've discovered the problems and the phones should now be working - good news for all!
The memo:
I was first notified of the problems with telephones at the fire stations on Monday, the 6th of June 2005, and focused the appropriate resources of my department for a quick resolution. Clearly, there has been a problem out there for several months. One of the issues has been that the problem was intermittent, and as a consequence has not been reported and escalated to management in affected departments and MIS. During this time, however, the 911 system was not impacted, nor, because of redundant systems, was there ever a situation when a fire station was without emergency communications capability. We isolated the main problem this week, however, we will continue to monitor performance. The fundamental problem was a programming error in some network components at remote sites.
Let me address the specific questions posed my Mr. Griffith:
1. The total cost of the new telephone system was $1,597,591.00. With tax, the total increased to $1,726,995.87. Included in this number is hardware, software, and installation services. It is true that each telephone instrument costs around $500, however, these telephones are actually computers on our citywide network that have many features not available on the old system. An example of this is the directory capability or unified messaging which makes voicemail available through the email system. Over time, we will be fielding additional enterprise applications to our customers via the telephone system. This number compares favorably with the $300 to $400 we were paying for rebuilt telephones for the old system. After inflation, the new telephones were actually cheaper than the old ones in 1989.
2. While the old system was not broken, it was 15 years old. To keep it operating following the year 2000 we bought parts from organizations that had already replaced their systems. We have been totally in the used parts arena for five years. At any time, a hardware failure could have caused an outage that would have lasted until we found the appropriate part. We have been on borrowed time for years.
3. The City began its search for a new system in 2000 with initial planning based upon our difficult experience in making the old system Y2K compliant. In 2001, we engaged the services of a telecommunications consultant to assist MIS staff in identifying each department’s requirements for a new system. We extended an invitation to all interested vendors to install demonstration systems for our evaluation. Five vendors accepted our offer and actually installed their systems in City Hall for use by selected users. City staff visited three other vendor sites for demonstrations. These requirements and experiences were reduced to a 120 page RFP that was released in early September 2003. On the due date of October 6, 2003, the City received 12 proposals for evaluation. The evaluation team consisted of City Council President Rob Higgins, Administrative Services Director Dorothy Webster, Mike Charter from the fire department, Dave Ingle from the police department, George Bailey from the solid waste department, and Ron Nicodemus the director of the utility billing department. I sat as a non-voting member of this committee. The final selection was based upon functionality and lowest cost over a 5 year period. The decision was approved by both City Council and Mayor West before the contract was signed.
4. The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is a mature product at this point. In fact, I delayed the whole process to the point that the technology was not only mature, but also at the point where prices dropped as they do with all new electronics. The exact same system selected is in use by several other cities and counties in Washington, Microsoft, Boeing, and over 60% of Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Griffith is probably confusing our system with some commercial offerings of VoIP where the Internet is the means of transport instead of normal public switched telephone system circuits. There are quality of service issues with these services. Ironically, the programming errors that we found cause our system to have these same problems at remote sites.
5. Once the installation has been completed, acceptance testing shall be performed upon the system following its cutover. This test and verification period, if successful, shall consist of thirty consecutive days of normal traffic load with no major component failures and no major alarms, defined as: 1) CPU failure; 2) main power supply failure; 3) a failure of the remote electronics at one of the City’s sites; 4) 25% of incoming/outgoing trunks inoperable; 5) 10% or more stations inoperable; or 6) 10% of the voice mail system inoperable. The City of Spokane shall accept the installed system after a signed letter of official system certification with successful acceptance test results, accompanied by two sets of as-built documentation provided by the Vendor, is received, reviewed with the Vendor, and accepted in writing by the City of Spokane. Because installation is not complete for this system, final acceptance testing has not begun.
6. It would be very difficult and prohibitively expensive to either go back to the old system or select a different technology at this point. One of the decision points for this system is that it rides the same network that we use for computers. With the old system, we had to maintain a separate physical network just for telephones. The savings over time will be significant. Telephonic customer service will improve this week. Funding for this system was via the City Capital Improvement Program and MIS equipment replacement reserves which are both one time funding resources for capital programs only and are not viable sources for continuing operations.
The memo:
I was first notified of the problems with telephones at the fire stations on Monday, the 6th of June 2005, and focused the appropriate resources of my department for a quick resolution. Clearly, there has been a problem out there for several months. One of the issues has been that the problem was intermittent, and as a consequence has not been reported and escalated to management in affected departments and MIS. During this time, however, the 911 system was not impacted, nor, because of redundant systems, was there ever a situation when a fire station was without emergency communications capability. We isolated the main problem this week, however, we will continue to monitor performance. The fundamental problem was a programming error in some network components at remote sites.
Let me address the specific questions posed my Mr. Griffith:
1. The total cost of the new telephone system was $1,597,591.00. With tax, the total increased to $1,726,995.87. Included in this number is hardware, software, and installation services. It is true that each telephone instrument costs around $500, however, these telephones are actually computers on our citywide network that have many features not available on the old system. An example of this is the directory capability or unified messaging which makes voicemail available through the email system. Over time, we will be fielding additional enterprise applications to our customers via the telephone system. This number compares favorably with the $300 to $400 we were paying for rebuilt telephones for the old system. After inflation, the new telephones were actually cheaper than the old ones in 1989.
2. While the old system was not broken, it was 15 years old. To keep it operating following the year 2000 we bought parts from organizations that had already replaced their systems. We have been totally in the used parts arena for five years. At any time, a hardware failure could have caused an outage that would have lasted until we found the appropriate part. We have been on borrowed time for years.
3. The City began its search for a new system in 2000 with initial planning based upon our difficult experience in making the old system Y2K compliant. In 2001, we engaged the services of a telecommunications consultant to assist MIS staff in identifying each department’s requirements for a new system. We extended an invitation to all interested vendors to install demonstration systems for our evaluation. Five vendors accepted our offer and actually installed their systems in City Hall for use by selected users. City staff visited three other vendor sites for demonstrations. These requirements and experiences were reduced to a 120 page RFP that was released in early September 2003. On the due date of October 6, 2003, the City received 12 proposals for evaluation. The evaluation team consisted of City Council President Rob Higgins, Administrative Services Director Dorothy Webster, Mike Charter from the fire department, Dave Ingle from the police department, George Bailey from the solid waste department, and Ron Nicodemus the director of the utility billing department. I sat as a non-voting member of this committee. The final selection was based upon functionality and lowest cost over a 5 year period. The decision was approved by both City Council and Mayor West before the contract was signed.
4. The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is a mature product at this point. In fact, I delayed the whole process to the point that the technology was not only mature, but also at the point where prices dropped as they do with all new electronics. The exact same system selected is in use by several other cities and counties in Washington, Microsoft, Boeing, and over 60% of Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Griffith is probably confusing our system with some commercial offerings of VoIP where the Internet is the means of transport instead of normal public switched telephone system circuits. There are quality of service issues with these services. Ironically, the programming errors that we found cause our system to have these same problems at remote sites.
5. Once the installation has been completed, acceptance testing shall be performed upon the system following its cutover. This test and verification period, if successful, shall consist of thirty consecutive days of normal traffic load with no major component failures and no major alarms, defined as: 1) CPU failure; 2) main power supply failure; 3) a failure of the remote electronics at one of the City’s sites; 4) 25% of incoming/outgoing trunks inoperable; 5) 10% or more stations inoperable; or 6) 10% of the voice mail system inoperable. The City of Spokane shall accept the installed system after a signed letter of official system certification with successful acceptance test results, accompanied by two sets of as-built documentation provided by the Vendor, is received, reviewed with the Vendor, and accepted in writing by the City of Spokane. Because installation is not complete for this system, final acceptance testing has not begun.
6. It would be very difficult and prohibitively expensive to either go back to the old system or select a different technology at this point. One of the decision points for this system is that it rides the same network that we use for computers. With the old system, we had to maintain a separate physical network just for telephones. The savings over time will be significant. Telephonic customer service will improve this week. Funding for this system was via the City Capital Improvement Program and MIS equipment replacement reserves which are both one time funding resources for capital programs only and are not viable sources for continuing operations.
Tacoma Fire is hiring. Application deadline - June 30th
Click on title to go to webpage with downloadable application.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Friday, June 10, 2005
The mayor responds...
John,
I received a copy of your email to the City Council and will be providing you with a more detailed reply shortly to your inquiry.
Always feel free to contact the City Council members about things but also please also feel free to contact me or Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch at any time if you have questions, suggestions or simply comments, especially when issues come up in the area of administration. By Charter the City Council is responsible for policy and the Mayor is responsible for administration.
While the City Council approved the contract for the new phone system, it was on the advice of my office that they did so. The City Council should be concerned if something isn’t working properly or if they feel they are not provided adequate information so we will be answering your questions to them also.
In the last 17 months I’ve strived to open the administration up to the Council, employees and the public and believe we have made significant progress there. For example, I’m told the previous administration forbade administrative staff from communicating with the Council without the knowledge and/or permission of the Mayor or City Administrator. I immediately changed that policy when I took office because of my belief that the Council should be fully informed and should be able to ask staff any question without restriction. It made no sense to me to deny the policy making body of the City access to important information. If a Governor had done that to me when I was a Legislator I would have been rightfully outraged. Even in this time when the Council has asked me to resign the administration is fully maintaining the Council’s right to unrestricted access to staff and information so they can do their jobs.
Now regarding your questions; they are good questions that deserve answers. We will get those answers to you as soon as possible. Rest assured that the new phone system was reviewed for several years before a decision was made to buy it. The money was programmed into the budget as a one time expense to purchase the system and had no relation to layoffs anywhere in City government. One time monies should never be used for ongoing expenses like salaries or benefits. Primarily they should be used to improve systems and/or lower ongoing costs.
I’ll see that you soon get the answers to all your questions and again please feel free to contact me at anytime regarding anything.
James E. West
Mayor
City of Spokane
W. 808 Spokane Falls Blvd
Spokane, WA 99201-3335
(509) 625-6250
I received a copy of your email to the City Council and will be providing you with a more detailed reply shortly to your inquiry.
Always feel free to contact the City Council members about things but also please also feel free to contact me or Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch at any time if you have questions, suggestions or simply comments, especially when issues come up in the area of administration. By Charter the City Council is responsible for policy and the Mayor is responsible for administration.
While the City Council approved the contract for the new phone system, it was on the advice of my office that they did so. The City Council should be concerned if something isn’t working properly or if they feel they are not provided adequate information so we will be answering your questions to them also.
In the last 17 months I’ve strived to open the administration up to the Council, employees and the public and believe we have made significant progress there. For example, I’m told the previous administration forbade administrative staff from communicating with the Council without the knowledge and/or permission of the Mayor or City Administrator. I immediately changed that policy when I took office because of my belief that the Council should be fully informed and should be able to ask staff any question without restriction. It made no sense to me to deny the policy making body of the City access to important information. If a Governor had done that to me when I was a Legislator I would have been rightfully outraged. Even in this time when the Council has asked me to resign the administration is fully maintaining the Council’s right to unrestricted access to staff and information so they can do their jobs.
Now regarding your questions; they are good questions that deserve answers. We will get those answers to you as soon as possible. Rest assured that the new phone system was reviewed for several years before a decision was made to buy it. The money was programmed into the budget as a one time expense to purchase the system and had no relation to layoffs anywhere in City government. One time monies should never be used for ongoing expenses like salaries or benefits. Primarily they should be used to improve systems and/or lower ongoing costs.
I’ll see that you soon get the answers to all your questions and again please feel free to contact me at anytime regarding anything.
James E. West
Mayor
City of Spokane
W. 808 Spokane Falls Blvd
Spokane, WA 99201-3335
(509) 625-6250
Regarding phones - Brad Stark's response from Garv Brakel - the City's IMS Director
I have just heard recently (on Monday) of these problems. I’ll get back to you with a resolution. I’m guessing that the problem is related to simultaneous use of the computer. The phones and computers share the same network but settings in the switches and routers give priority to the voice application. If you can imagine all of the little packets of information floating around in our network but some of them are holding up red flags, and the red flags are waved through ahead of everybody else. Dropping words in a conversation tells me that the red flags are not being recognized.
To answer the other questions I’m talking somewhat off the top of my head as I am on vacation and just checking in at night from home. The new phone system cost about 1.8 million. Each phone is essentially a computer with additional capabilities that we will be adding over time and does cost around $500. This is compared to the old phones which cost around $300 in 1989 when they were purchased. The old system was functioning well, however, it was 15 years old and no new parts were available. We have been a heartbeat away from having nothing for several years. Maintenance on the old system was very expensive and going up. We had to get a new system. There was a huge effort to identify requirements, build an RFP, and select a new system. In addition to MIS, fire, police, utility billing, and other departments were members of the selection team. MIS did not hold a voting position on the team, so the system was actually selected by the user departments. Mayor West approved the process and final selection. This technology is not in its infancy. These people are confusing Internet based phone systems with our Voice over IP system. Our system runs over our own network, not the Internet. One of the many advantages to this is that our phones and computers are on the same physical network so we are maintaining only one network instead of the two we had before. The cost savings over the long run are considerable. This is the phone system that most organizations are buying now. The system is guaranteed to work correctly and the vendor will assist us in fixing this problem. We really cannot economically go back at this point. The money for this program is not related to a loss of firefighter positions for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that a good portion of it is from the utilities. The systems was paid for with CIP and MIS equipment replacement funds which are capital programs outside of the general fund problems associated with the loss of firefighters
Fire stations are somewhat different than other locations in that we do not have city owned highspeed network connections to all of them yet. We have a joint plan with the fire department to run fiber optic cable to all stations. As each station comes on to that network, overall service will improve. I’ll get you the schedule. In the meantime, we are leasing data grade circuits and if we are having problems, it could well be related to the quality of these circuits. We will address the performance issue with the vendor.
As a service provider, I would prefer that our customers talk to us about problems and use the normal chain of command to report problems. If that is not working for them, I respect their right to call on the council for help. Monday of this week was the first time I was aware that the stations were complaining. Give me a chance and we will get this fixed.
Garv
To answer the other questions I’m talking somewhat off the top of my head as I am on vacation and just checking in at night from home. The new phone system cost about 1.8 million. Each phone is essentially a computer with additional capabilities that we will be adding over time and does cost around $500. This is compared to the old phones which cost around $300 in 1989 when they were purchased. The old system was functioning well, however, it was 15 years old and no new parts were available. We have been a heartbeat away from having nothing for several years. Maintenance on the old system was very expensive and going up. We had to get a new system. There was a huge effort to identify requirements, build an RFP, and select a new system. In addition to MIS, fire, police, utility billing, and other departments were members of the selection team. MIS did not hold a voting position on the team, so the system was actually selected by the user departments. Mayor West approved the process and final selection. This technology is not in its infancy. These people are confusing Internet based phone systems with our Voice over IP system. Our system runs over our own network, not the Internet. One of the many advantages to this is that our phones and computers are on the same physical network so we are maintaining only one network instead of the two we had before. The cost savings over the long run are considerable. This is the phone system that most organizations are buying now. The system is guaranteed to work correctly and the vendor will assist us in fixing this problem. We really cannot economically go back at this point. The money for this program is not related to a loss of firefighter positions for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that a good portion of it is from the utilities. The systems was paid for with CIP and MIS equipment replacement funds which are capital programs outside of the general fund problems associated with the loss of firefighters
Fire stations are somewhat different than other locations in that we do not have city owned highspeed network connections to all of them yet. We have a joint plan with the fire department to run fiber optic cable to all stations. As each station comes on to that network, overall service will improve. I’ll get you the schedule. In the meantime, we are leasing data grade circuits and if we are having problems, it could well be related to the quality of these circuits. We will address the performance issue with the vendor.
As a service provider, I would prefer that our customers talk to us about problems and use the normal chain of command to report problems. If that is not working for them, I respect their right to call on the council for help. Monday of this week was the first time I was aware that the stations were complaining. Give me a chance and we will get this fixed.
Garv
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