This Web site and nsfd.net are "owned" and operated by Frank Benn, not the Nottawa-Sherman Fire Department. The viewpoints and opinions below are not necessarily supported by all members of the Nottawa-Sherman Fire Department or the governing boards of Nottawa and Sherman Townships.
Background "An Interesting Sequence of Events"
"All of Our Eggs In One Basket?"
The"Paper" Trail The FOIA Documents
Firefighters Killed LEOs Killed
"All of Our Eggs In One Basket?"
The"Paper" Trail The FOIA Documents
Firefighters Killed LEOs Killed
Isabella County... Please give back everything you took from us!
Updates
to the still unresolved
Digital Radio Fiasco
(The extensive "paper trail" can be examined here.)
As of 8-11-16
What has actually been done to solve this problem?
Answer: Nothing substantial...
Just a rumor of a rant by County Commissioner George Green regarding my latest email to the Isabella County Board of Commissioners at a special "meet the candidates" Sherman Township Board meeting on June 15th.
(I wasn't there so, unless it was entered into the minutes, it's heresay)
and
still more talk about going to the state owned 800 MHz system which will mean ...
A. More delay waiting for over a million dollars worth of funding through grants
or
B. Making our township taxpayers pay for the equipment.
More Shenanigans:The FOIA Documents
A Plan? See "An Interesting Sequence of Events"
More money, more danger: See "All of Our Eggs In One Basket?"
A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EVENTS:
- 8/11/16 - Still no personal response from any Isabella County commissioner to any of my previous emails. I sent my 8th email to each of the Board members.
- 6/10/16 - Having had no response from any Isabella County commissioner to any of my previous emails, I sent my 7th email to each of the Board members.
- 6/09/16 - After a month of testing, it has become clear that the new repeater device in our light rescue is not working as well as hoped. We have to carry both our hand held digital radios and the repeater link into a scene, hoping that one or the other will be able to communicate with Central Dispatch when needed.
- 5/03/16 - Chief Livermore had a device installed which allows the radio in our light rescue to be used as a repeater. Our NSFD repeater is being converted back to analog and our pagers re-programmed to hear that the output frequency. There has been no action whatsoever from the County to fix the problems they created.
- 4/25/16 - Still no answers from MPSCS about my concerns related to the 800 MHz system. Mr Stoddard apparently didn't like the idea that I wanted to record our conversation. Still no response from any of the Isabella County Commissioners.
- 3/27/16 - Email reply to Brad Stoddard explaining my conditions for a conversaton.
- 3/25/16 - Email reply from Brad Stoddard requesting a conversation.
- 3/22/16 - Still
no answers from MPSCS regarding potential problems with their 800 MHz
system. Apparently, they ignore legislators, also.
- 3/16/16 - Received a reply from Rep. Kevin Cotter RE: MPSCS Concerns implying that his office would contact the MPSCS.
- 3/15/16 - Emailed Representative Cotter & Senator Emmmons regarding the lack of response from MPSCS
- 3/14/16 - I have heard nothing from the MPSCS director or anyone in his office in response to my questions of 3-2-16.
- 3/10/16 - I emailed a response to Sue Field's Morning Sun article regarding the radio issues.
- 3/07/16 - Having
had no response from any Isabella County commissioner to any of my
previous emails, I sent my 6th email to each of the Board members.
- 3/2/16 - I
emailed the director of the Michigan Public Safety Communication System
asking for a response to some of my concerns regarding the MPSCS 800
MHz network.
- 3/2/16 - I didn't receive a response from Ms. McAvoy about the 10 month void in the
records, so I uploaded what we had to the "legal cloud". Subsequently, I was
advised that there was no need for me to spend another $500-800 on the
missing documents. Apparently, if needed, they can be subpoenaed
later with no cost to me. Yeah, right! I
started my own perusal of the FOIA docs & will soon begin posting
some of the more interesting findings on a separate page.
- 3/1/16 - Finished
scanning & uploading the documents. Emailed Ms. McAvoy
concerning the 500+ pages of "padding" and two "voids" in the records
of 5 months each.
- 2/29/16 - Finished sorting the documents into chronological order after separating out most of the "padding".
- 2/26/16 - Picked up from Ms. McAvoy, the Isabella County administrator, a box of well scrambled documents.
- 2/24/16 - Placed an ad with the Morning Sun
- 2/21/16 - Emailed my 3rd plea for decency to the Isabella County Board of Commissioners
- Posted a brief update to my FB page - 2/18/16 - Ordered a check for $852.58 to be sent to the Isabella County administrator for the balance due on the FOIA requests.
I should be able to pick up the 1,776 copies of documents I requested next week.
I suspect that many, if not most, of the documents will have little relevence to the situation.
I will scan and upload the most interesting items to a new FOIA Documents page along with my comments. - 2/18/16 Received an email from jjarosiewicz@isabellacounty.org with attached final billing and time sheets.
-- Ms. McAvoy's estimate of 10,000 sheets was only off by 8,224.
-- The 1,776 sheets are only about 18% of the original estimate... however, Ms.McAvoy still managed to bill me 71.6% of the original estimate ($2,826.29) by racking up "review" charges. - 2/16/16 From
a discussion with Chief Livermore, it appears as though Sherman
Township will bear the financial burden of purchasing 800 MHz
communications equipment in the near future in order to provide a more
secure on-scene environment for our firefighters and citizens.
With Isabella County officials refusing to correct the problems
they created, Sherman Township has no choice. According to Chief
Livermore, NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) communications
standards mandate 95% coverage, 95% of the time. Currently, we do
not have that level of coverage. The blame for this financial burden on the taxpayers of Sherman Township lies solely with the elected and appointed officials of Isabella County.
- 2/16/16 Still no copies of records from the County, 25 days after they received my check for $1,973.71
- 2/12/16
Email from jjarosiewicz@isabellacounty.org indicating that
processing of my FOIA requests would be completed on 2/16/16.
- 2/09/16 Still no copies of records from the County, 18 days after they received my check for $1,973.71.
- 2/08/16 Posted the history of failed digital communications in Isabella County on my FB page.
- 2/08/16
Emailed the Isabella County Board of Commissioners, detailing the
history of failed digital communications in Isabella County.
- 2/05/16
Emailed the Isabella County Board of Commissioners with another
plea to give back the communications security they destroyed in 2014.
- 2/04/16 Still no copies of records from the County, 13 days after they received my check for $1,973.71.
- 1/31/16
We turned in our "loaner" 800 Mhz hand-held radios. No word on
whether or not the County is going to buy NSFD $150,000 worth of 800 MHz
equipment.
- 1/22/16 My check for 50% of the FOIA request bill was received by Isabella County.
- 1/21/16 I received paper copies of the bills for my FOIA requests.
- 1/16/16 - Ordered a check for $1,973.71 to be sent to the Isabella County administrator as the required 50% deposit. My online checking service indicated a delivery date of 1/22/16.
- 1/16/16
- I emailed my objections to the ludicrous billing & estimates for
the FOIA requests to Ms. McAvoy and each of the Isabella County Board
of Commissioners members.
- 1/15/16 I received emails with attached bills for an amazing 10,000 copies
of documents even though the FOIA requests are only for documents
associated with the newly installed digital radio system and the upkeep
of the fire west repeater. The County bill includes 74 hours of labor @ $39.83/hour. According to Michigan FOIA law, the hourly rate charged for a FOIA request must be for ”
… lowest paid public body employee capable of retrieving the
information necessary to comply with a request under this act.” (ACT
442 OF 1976, 15.234., Sec. 4/3/1). That means that lowest paid office worker has an annual compensation of nearly $80,000! Amazing! The required 50% deposit on the bill will paid and will be appealed at a later date.
- 1/14/16
- A few NSFD personnel were issued 800 MHz radios & pagers (on loan
from the Michigan State Police) for testing in the NSFD coverage area.
These devices allowed us to use the state-wide system owned and
operated by the State of Michigan. One fire officer estimated the
cost for this "fix" to be about $150,000 just for NSFD.
The pager I tested was "out of service" in some areas of my
house, but I suspect that my loaner was in need of repair.
- 1/12/16 - Notice of "10-day Extension to Respond" received from Jessica Jarosiewicz, Isabella County Administrative Assistant as permitted by the Michigan FOIA.
- 1/9/16 - My second request for documents pertaining to this issue were submitted to Isabella County. Again, the requests were for documents pertaining to two main issues: the new digital system for fire service communications & what has been done over the past 5 years to keep the “fire west” repeater system functioning properly.
- 1/8/16 - Notice of "10-day Extension to Respond" received from Jessica Jarosiewicz, Isabella County Administrative Assistant as permitted by the Michigan FOIA.
- 1/7/16 - For a temporary "fix" and testing purposes in the NSFD coverage area, the NSFD repeater system located at the NSFD fire station was enabled as the main line of communications with Isabella County Central Dispatch. Allegedly, this required the installation of a separate radio system and antenna at Central Dispatch. This effectively gave us reliable communications with Central Dispatch. It did nothing to improve communications with the ambulance service (MMR) or fire departments in adjoining counties who have no digital capability. It did nothing to provide the communications through our own pagers that we lost when the County installed the digital system. This lack of communications through our pagers could result in 2/3 of our personnel not getting crucial information about the scene they are approaching.
- 1/5/16 - My first request for documents pertaining to this issue were submitted to Isabella County. The requests were for documents pertaining to two main issues: the new digital system for fire service communications & what has been done over the past 5 years to keep the “fire west” repeater system functioning properly.
- 1/3/16 - Having seen no action on the part of Isabella County, I emailed Ms. McAvoy and each Isabella County Board of Commissioners member expressing my anger and frustration regarding the lingering, dangerous, lack of reliable communications for our fire department. Rumor has it that my remarks were not received well.
- 12/14/15 - I emailed information to Ms. McAvoy regarding digital vs. analog radio systems and the failure of digital radio systems installed by other government agencies.
- 12/14/15 - Ms. McAvoy responded with an email stating that she and others had "... met multiple times to assess the communication problem and seek solutions." .
- 12/13/15 - I emailed the Isabella County administrator, Margaret McAvoy, explaining my concerns.
Instead of fixing the coverage problem by adding another tower and repeater system, the County "tested" alternatives. This was not a sincere effort to fix the problems the County has created. It was merely a stalling tactic.
Nothing has been done to bring our communications up to the level we had in 2014!
The NSFD Repeater System Proves To Be Better Than the Isabella County "Fire West" Repeater System
For "testing" purposes, the NSFD repeater at the fire station in Weidman (owned by NSFD, maintained by Crouch Communications Inc) has been coverted to digital.
A "positive" -- Provides better coverage for NSFD than the County owned "fire west" repeater "maintained" by Pro Comm Inc.
A "negative" -- NSFD lost it's "analog" repeater and the ability to use it for communications with fire departments in Mecosta & Clare counties.
A "negative"-- NSFD pagers can no longer be programmed to hear the NSFD repeater now that it's digital.
A "negative"-- NSFD truck operators now have to use the NSFD repeater rather than the County "37 Fire" channel
A "negative" -- Isabella County dispatchers are required to listen to all of the traffic on the NSFD repeater.
The "test" has become a "fix" (temporary, we hope) because it returns a little of the safety we lost.
The "Elite" 800 MHz Digital Radio System
For testing purposes, every fire department in Isabella County was issued 800 MHz radios & pagers for use on the 800 MHz digital communications system operated by the Michigan’s Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS).
A "positive" -- Testing was minimal (4 days for the pagers) and sporatic, but the 800 MHz radios & pagers seemed to work as well as the old analog system.
A "negative"-- The cost of the 800 MHz equipment (estimated by Chief Livermore at $167,000, not including new digital pagers) is beyond the capabilities of the NSFD budget.
A "negative"-- NSFD officers were required to talk to Central Dispatch using only the digital hand-held radios.
A "negative"-- NSFD officers had to carry two hand-held tranceivers so we could communicate on all three systems.
