I am Ladina Bolton, Chair of the Committee, joined by Commissioner Marita Davis Johnson, who also serves on the committee.

Commissioner Nicole Messiah will not be joining us this afternoon, but we do have Commissioner Terry with us.

So we're gonna go ahead and jump right in to our meeting, beginning with our minutes 2026 0931.

This is from May 5th.

Do we have a motion for this item?

Yes, a motion to um approve the minutes.

Second, all in favor.

Aye.

Motion carries.

We are gonna do things a little bit differently today.

We're gonna start with our E911 discussion.

We were supposed to have that discussion or that presentation last meeting didn't get an opportunity to, and I want to make sure we have ample time for that discussion.

You ready for us?

Good to see you.

Thank you.

Good to see you all this way.

All right, whenever you're ready.

Right.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

So uh I'm here again to present an update for E911 with some of the um call volume stats as well as some additional information from January 1st through April 30th, 2026.

Uh first slide, I always like to include a slide uh initially because it gives a an overview of the complexity of the Cap County and all of the services that we provide to the 12 cities as well as unincorporated the CAF.

So it's always great to see and have a better understanding of what services we provide to what municipality or jurisdiction.

Next, we have an overview of staffing from 2024 to 20 um through April 30th, 2026.

Um right now we have 116 of 137 funded positions that have been filled.

Um we had six resignations due to some familial um obligations.

Um that's primarily, I think we have three or four that had some family obligations and either had to move back out of state or um handle some other um aspect of their family.

And then um we had two to go back to school full time.

Um we had in a retirement and then two transfers.

Um what right now one of the things we're working on to help build retention is to build employee engagement.

Some things we're working on is employee committees, um we have a social media committee, beautification team, um, outreach team, and a care team, and as well as creating some employee work groups.

They're the first line, and um who else better to ask for their feedback than the people who use the systems every day.

Um we also have bi-weekly meetings with um each of the shifts representatives.

We have four shifts, and each shift has two representatives, and their goal is to meet with the deputy director and I um one-on-one to express any concerns.

So any um issues, any concerns from the shifts, they bring that information to our meeting um every two weeks, and then we're able to give them direct feedback.

What we were finding is that some of their concerns never made it to us.

So we wanted to give them the opportunity to sit down to have these open discussions with us one-on-one.

And then, of course, we do um continue our departmental um morale boosters.

We do employee appreciation every quarter as well as shout-outs whenever they occur and things like that.

So we we make want to make sure that we continue with our morale boosters and look for different ways to um just increase morale.

We're dealing with everyone on their birthday, so we're always trying to find different ways to increase morale.

We just renovated their entire break room for the staff so that they can have someone comfortable um to take their breaks somewhere to decompress and also just some way to kind of disconnect and have that that break time to um just take a mental break from everyone else's problems.

Are those the I think you called them the quiet rooms or we do have a quiet room, but we actually redid their entire break room.

Okay.

So that's right.

So that they can go and just have that time to to themselves.

And Commissioner Davis Johnson had a question.

Yes, Commissioner.

I'm doing great, hi.

What are some of the major concerns?

What are you saying?

The consistency of concerns.

The main concern is primarily um just um lack of communication.

Some information that we're relaying through the chain of command doesn't get relayed to them.

So what we um do is ensure that we um meet with them, listen to those concerns and make sure they get the direct feedback.

And those meeting notes we share with everyone, so they have that information as well.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Um, we do have some great accolades also.

Um we were the Georgia Emergency Communications 2026 team of the year, along with City of Atlanta and Emory Um University for the Active Shooter incident that happened um near the D C D C.

So we did receive the um in the Georgia Emergency Communications Conference is a joint um conference between NENA National Emergency Number Association as well as APCO, the Association of Public Um Communications Officials.

So it's a joint conference, and at this conference, we were recognized as the GECC 2026 team of the year.

Um, and one of our other accolades is we are now a triple ACE accredited, so ACE is an accredited center for excellence.

We are now uh accredited in emergency police fire and EMS dispatch, which is um priority dispatch and ACE accreditation is the goal line or the gold standard in 911.

So we were able to achieve this um active recognition, and also we went to a conference back in April where we were um recognized.

So we out of 3600 international um 911 centers, we were the 33rd ACE or 33rd triple Ace accredited um center of excellence.

So we're very very proud to have achieved that um goal is when I said when I first got to the center and we were able to achieve it.

So very very proud of my team and their efforts to ensure that we are um following protocols and hearing the standards, it reduces our liability, and it also makes sure that everyone who calls 911 gets the same level of service.

Wonderful.

Congratulations on both of your accolades.

Thank you.

Next we're moving to some um call statistics.

So again, from January 1st through April 30th, 2026.

Um these are our call volume statistics.

Um, and that shows we're not just answering 911 calls, about 51 percent of our calls are 911.

Uh 56,000 calls, again, between January and April, were 10 digit emergency.

10 digit emergency are the call, the lines that the um other 911 centers use, or if we have a citizen that's out of the area but has an emergency in the cab, they use the 10 digit emergency number.

And then we have some additional administrative calls.

We took about 28,000, and then we have some outgoing calls, text and 911.

We did a um over a thousand takes and 911 calls between January and April.

So I just wanted to give an overview of all of the calls that we receive in addition to 911.

Now, I'd have to be honest, I wasn't familiar with the 10 digit emergency number.

Is that online?

Is that where they would find that online to call and reach you, even if they're outside of our jurisdiction?

Yes.

Okay.

You can proceed.

Next, I have the um 911 call answer times, and these again are through from January 1st to April 30th, 2026.

So just to kind of give you a general history.

When I started in December 2023, we were at 54%.

2025, we were at 53 percent.

I'm sorry, 2024, we were at 53 percent, and that's a calls answered within 20 seconds.

Now we're one calls answered in less than 20 seconds, and then 2025, we're about 71%, and now we're a little over 80 percent.

So we've definitely seen um an increase with our call answer times.

As you can see, uh 67, almost 68% of our calls are answered within zero to two seconds.

Then we have a little over 8% that are answered within two to 10 seconds and so on.

So between 0 and 15 seconds, 78.7% of our calls are answered.

And 80% of our calls, 80.77% of our calls are answered within 20 seconds.

So that leaves a little over 19% of our calls that take more than 20 seconds to answer.

And this is only for the 911, not 10 digit emergency.

Yes, this is just for the 911.

Okay.

So next we're gonna move on to abandoned calls.

An abandoned call is a call in which the caller disconnects before the 911 call taker operator can answer.

As you can see, from January 1st to April 30th, we had about 46,000, which we had 46,892 abandoned calls.

We completed 40,937 manual callbacks and manual callbacks are just as that we manually had to call 40,000 citizens back who disconnected the line before connecting to an operator.

And then the others were some that said disregard, some that just didn't need help.

They can press one or two during this time anywhere they can press one or two, and if they press two, that information is included here is as well.

But 40,936 callbacks is what we completed from January 1st through April 30th.

For if we go back one slide where you showed the ring time range, the calls and the percentages, does the software automatically generate this, or do you have to go in and do some manual or Excel calculations to get the numbers?

The system automatically um creates all of this information.

We have an analytics page, so all of this information is generated from the system.

Okay, and the reason that I ask is um if we could just double check those numbers because it shows 911, the total number of calls is 207,000 plus, but the number of calls between zero and two seconds, zero and two seconds is 109,000 and that isn't 67 percent.

That number doesn't include abandoned, so we add that number plus the abandoned calls.

Okay.

So these are just non-one calls that are answered.

Any that are abandoned is included in the abandoned call total.

Okay, so on the page where it has the queue and all of the different types of calls, the 911 includes the abandoned calls.

The yes.

Okay.

Yes, it includes the abandoned calls.

That's all of the call volume received into the 911 center, and then it's broken down into 911 and then um any abandoned 911 calls.

I gotcha.

Thank you for clarifying.

Go ahead.

Um, next we'll touch base on the next gen 911 system that we launched on November 19, 2025.

Uh, some of the features of the phone system.

Um, we can receive picture video.

Um, what we call is an event.

Anytime someone calls 911 or any of our administrative lines, um, it's called an event.

If they send us on 911 only, they can send us picture and video.

That picture and video stays with that event.

So it's not anything that we have to look up later or anything that's kept separately.

So each event it holds whatever information.

So if translation occurred, um, if they send us a picture or video, any information stays with that one event.

It also provides some um location accuracy.

Um, it helps to decrease miss routed calls, uses the GPS um system.

So anytime someone calls 911, you receive a link, um requesting permission to utilize your GPS location.

Once the caller says yes, now we can see there is that location based on the GPS of their cell phone.

So it's been um important for us because sometimes someone may not know their location.

Um it helps to pinpoint exactly where they are.

So the first minute, minute and a half, we're going back and forth as far as location right now.

We can use the information from their cell phone to verify the information that we see is matching what the caller is saying.

So it helps to get the um address in faster so that we can um go ahead and start processing a call.

We also have translation and transcription.

We have automatic to a transcription for Spanish.

So anytime a Spanish speaking caller calls 911, the system automatically translate their um whatever they're saying into English, and then the call taker who speaks English transfers back over to the caller into Spanish.

Right now we have over 60 different languages that the system will detect.

The only automatic one right now is Spanish, but it will tell us what language the caller is speaking so that when we transfer over to our third-party interpreter service provider, they're able to go ahead and pinpoint what language they're speaking instead of having to find it or the interpreter having to find it, we can go in and give them that information.

Some additional features that we're currently working on.

Um is called administrative triage, is where a virtual agent answers routine calls.

So if someone calls and says they want to know how to get a copy of a police report, the virtual agent will answer and send that information to them.

Then we can send a link, we can give them um the phone number and provide the information to them through a virtual agent.

And this is only for administrative calls.

This is not for any other line other than routine uh administrative calls, and they do have an option to speak with the live person.

We set it up.

Um so any trigger words that we may um see like sick, injured, staff, shot, any of those types of words, it automatically transfers the call over to a live operator.

So the goal is to reduce the time that our emergency operators are using handling administrative or non-emergency um situations.

One of the other features we're currently working on, and we're in the final phase of it, um, getting it prepared to launch, it's called emergency call triage.

So it answers calls that are received from the same geographic location.

Um, the example I use is when we had the street takeover.

We received 59 calls in reference to the same incident.

So what it did was um overburden the system because we had a hundred other calls coming in in addition to the 59 that were coming in within that that time, the same time frame as the takeover.

So what emergency call triage does is it asks the call, are you calling in reference to the traffic hazard or whatever we we um coded to say at whatever the location is?

If they're calling about that, then they can press one or two, two to speak with an operator, or one to let us let us know that they don't need any additional help, or or to let them know, I'm sorry, that we have the call and that um if they don't have any additional information, then they can go ahead and disconnect.

And this you said we're working toward implementing yes.

Okay, that's gonna be really good.

I know that has come up a couple times where folks have been concerned that they've been online trying to report something uh without the understanding that a million other people have recorded it.

So even if your call isn't answered, it's being addressed.

So this is gonna be extremely helpful.

Yes.

Do you have a timeline for implementation?

I don't.

We're working right now with our um vendor who does our CAD or computer aided dispatch, and we're just working on the last final step.

It has to replicate ever so many seconds to be able to um have that geographic location pinpointed.

So we're trying to make sure that the replication meets the standards.

So that's what we're working on now to make sure that the information that we have refreshes every 15 seconds so that we're getting new data.

We don't want to send a call triage to a call that happened, you know, minutes ago.

We wanted something that's going on active.

So that's the final phase that we're working on now with the vendor to go ahead and get that taken care of, so it should not take much longer.

As soon as I have a go live data, I'll definitely um send that information out.

Wonderful.

And it is for any incident.

Um, and we set the radius.

So let's say if it's a traffic accident, everyone calls about a traffic accident.

It's a, you know, are you calling about a traffic accident at this location?

The caller says yes, we let them know we have the call.

Um, and they also have an option to speak to a live operator if they need to.

But most people just want to know that we receive their call.

So even with the street takeover, the um first call we got happened several minutes before we started getting all the other calls.

So while we were getting those additional 58 other calls, we already had the first call and it was already in for dispatch.

Now, is this a feature we have to pay additional for, or we already had it and it needed to be uh activated?

The emergency call triage is a feature we already have had that was included um in the contract that um we're just had we just had to activate.

Okay.

So no additional funds necessary.

All right.

And then event assist is the other one.

Administrative triage and event assist are two that we had to add on, but that's already got approved in our budget for 2026.

Um so the event assist, it generates a live summary to the call taker.

So whatever the caller saying and whatever the call taker is saying, it is transcribed on the screen.

So what it does is highlight any keywords so that the operator can readily see it, but it also um keeps updating.

It's is it's like a continuous um transcription of what the caller is saying in the call taker, and they can just copy and paste that information.

So right now, when they receive the information from caller, they have to go to our CAD and type that information in.

With the event assist, what it does is transcribe it, you can copy and paste that information into the call, which seconds matter, second save live.

So any time that we can reduce, we're um always looking for resources to do that.

So with this event assist, you can copy and paste that information into the call instead of the operator having to physically type it in.

Wonderful.

And Commissioner Davis Johnson has a question.

Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, you talked about uh duplicate reports like if someone saw an accident, and you may have to have 50 people that so if someone's on another line calling, I guess you wouldn't know if they're talking about that incident until someone answers.

Is that this is done on the front end before it even reaches an operator?

It uses their geographic location.

So if they're close to um 285 in La Vista, it'll ask if they're calling about the traffic accident at 285 in the vista.

Okay, and the caller will say yes or no.

And then if they say yes, we'll let them know we have the call, or they can speak to an operator if they choose to.

Oh, okay.

So it's based all based on geographic location.

Okay, okay.

That's that's what I wanted to know.

Um how would they be told?

And I guess that'll free up another line.

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

Thank you.

And so again, we're always looking for resources, different ways we can uh reduce um call time as far as getting the information entered into the system, getting over to the dispatcher so the dispatcher can get it over to police fire ems.

So we're uh continue looking looking for ways to reduce that time.

And and while I'm well, well, I have you.

Um so you have um one hundred and let me see.

I think it was one hundred and twenty some slots.

It's open for 2026.

Let me find that.

So we have 400 candidates that we're reviewing right now.

We'll be having our next class.

You have 400 applicants, yes.

Oh, okay.

And and so you're looking to fill how many slots?

We're looking to feel, I think it's 20 20, 21 um slots in our next class that starts in August, beginning of August, I think it's August 3rd.

Uh and how long are your classes?

The classroom portion is six weeks, and then the training starts um when they're paired up with a trainer, and then they start the on the job or AJT OJT phase of training.

And that can take anywhere from four weeks, um, depending on the person of eight or longer, it just depends on how fast that that person is learning.

And so um, so you all are up to have your department filled.

Yes, all of the slides filled by the end of the year at least.

Yes, we try very hard to make sure to fill the only reason why it's a gap now or those vacancies now is because um typically every quarter we hold an academy.

And the only reason we didn't do one last quarter is because of the new phone system.

We didn't want to have a class when they hadn't even learned the system.

Okay.

So we had to skip a quarter so that the operators, the trainers could learn the system first so that they can train the new hires.

Okay.

Well, that sounds uh that sounds pretty good.

Thank you.

You're working very hard, and I want to to, you know, our goal is so no one, you know, everything that we can do to minimize any type of wait time and queue, we are absolutely trying everything.

And Commissioner Long Spears has a question as well.

Thank you very much.

Commissioner Bolton, how are you today?

I'm doing great.

How are you, Commissioner?

Good, good.

Thank you for being with us.

Um I have a few questions for you, and apologies if you addressed it in the beginning part of your presentation.

I was not up here yet.

Um, could you talk to me a little bit more about abandoned calls?

And so I very recently today had an experience where I did make a call to 911.

And um I did get some calls that followed up, not immediately afterwards, but from a New York phone number.

So when when you call 911, and couldn't you go to that slide, please?

You call 911, you hang up, you abandon the call.

Yes.

And then it looks like there are 40,936 manual callbacks.

What about the other 6,000?

Those are ones that either didn't need any assistance, they pressed two, or when we did call them back, they say they didn't need any help.

Okay.

So you so and and I'll add that we because we were having so many issues with the text, we actually remove that text.

Now, when someone calls 911 and they abandon the call or hang up before the operator can answer, that call goes into a separate queue.

It's called the automatic um abandoned call back 911 cue.

So what happens is is when the caller disconnects, that call goes into a a queue, a separate queue for an operator to answer, and it's no longer the text received that says press one or two is no longer that text received.

So we did change that to be able to um get the caller back into the queue so they can speak to a live operator.

Okay, so um I dialed 911 at 1251 p.m.

And then 1252, I did get a call from New York.

Then I got a call from Mr.

Williams at 1253.

And then I received two more calls, um, a 332 number and then a 770.

I'm assuming the 332s.

So that is that I guess my question is when you abandon the call and you call back, it's not necessarily a local number, it's not necessarily 404 or 678 or so on.

That's correct.

The system calls you back, and once someone answers your place into the queue to speak to a 911 operator.

And if someone doesn't answer, do they leave a voicemail?

It does not leave a voicemail now, but we are working on that with the vendor so that it can leave a voicemail to say so.

If we don't get a call back, then one of our call takers is dedicated.

We have a assigned abandoned call, call back person, they're supposed to call back those abandoned calls if we don't get an answer.

Okay, and um most phones, I guess now.

Um I could be wrong, maybe most is not the right word.

Some phones will translate the voicemail as well.

So you can look at your voicemail and read what the individual um said in the voicemail.

Yes.

Okay, and you said that you have uh discontinued text because you're having technical problems with it.

Well, it was causing more complaints than so the the reason why we went with the text is because we have a lot of pocket dials or missed dials.

So we were trying to keep those calls from entering the system.

So we did the text message for the caller to say, yes, I have an emergency or or not.

So we were having so many many issues with the text and having to do the 40,000 manual callbacks that we just turned it off so that the system will call you back, and then once you answer, you'll be transferred into the 911 Q.

Understood.

All right, thank you for that.

Um, my next question is um, you were talking about your translation services, and I understood that Spanish is the one language that's immediate, and the other languages you transfer to a third party, correct?

Yes.

How long does that transfer take?

It depends on call volume because they have um it's a call center as well, so it just depends.

Some take a few minutes, some may take more, it just depends on their call volume.

But what it does, since we know what language they're speaking, now they don't have to try to figure it out.

So even though Spanish, because that's the number one um non-English, you know, language that we we get, right?

Um, so that's why Spanish is automatic.

But when the caller calls and they're speaking something other than Spanish, it will let the call taker know on the screen.

So when they reach the interpreter service, they'll go ahead and let them know, hey, I need we have all kinds of languages I've never heard of.

Um we're very, very diverse in in the languages um that they do offer.

So we had a caller that spoke Burmese, and so it'll let them know Burmese that that's the language that they're speaking.

So when we get over to the interpreter services, say, hey, I need a interpreter speaks Burmese instead of them trying to figure out what language it is, the system will go ahead and let us know what language it is so that it cuts down on time.

So it really just depends on the call volume at the time.

So um currently, right now, when someone calls the E911 or 911, um, you said the lion's share, majority of those calls are are responded to within 15 seconds, correct?

Yes.

Okay, so if you are we'll use your example, Burmese, you're within the 15 seconds majority of them, and then you have to transfer to a third-party interpreter, which may take a couple of minutes.

It may take anywhere from a couple seconds to a couple of minutes.

So it again, it just depends on the call volume.

Because if they're overwhelmed with callers, then it may take that long.

It may not.

Most of the time it does not, but it just depends on call volume.

Well, you yourself said it earlier.

You know, seconds can determine your life.

Yes.

And so my point is is that if you're an English speaking person and you get responded to within 15 seconds, the likelihood your life will be saved is significantly higher than if you are Burmese or not Spanish either.

It sounds like Spanish is is very quick.

And so could you possibly contact the interpreter center and ask if they pull some data?

I'm just curious.

You know, when you said a couple of minutes, that was startling to me.

I think if you had said, you know, 30 seconds, okay.

I mean, still seconds count, but if you could pull that data, that would be very helpful, maybe over a three-month period just to get uh an idea of how long that response does take.

Okay, and we get a like a monthly printout of all the different languages.

I I want to say it's in our analytics so where we can go in and check, but I'll when I get back, I'll definitely look that up to to see.

And again, it's not an all-time thing, it's more because we're a melting pot, we have a lot of different languages you do, absolutely.

But the great thing is with the GPS location of the phone, if they let us know, it always hits the nearest cell tower, so we already know an area, but if they do press it, they will let us know um their location.

We're we can always send help while we're waiting for the interpreter service to get there.

All we need is a location we can send an officer to you.

Okay, all right.

If you can just pull that data, that'd be great.

And they do use it a lot in the field as well.

So even if they come across whether it's police fire, EMS, even if they come across someone who's not English speaking, they'll call the interpreter service as well to be able to communicate.

Okay.

So it's something that's used inside a 911 center as well as in the field.

Very good, very good.

Um, my next question is Well, before you ask the question, I just want to make sure I heard your response correctly.

So even though the language is different and you have to use a third party, it's not that service is necessarily delayed because you could still send help.

It's just communication is delayed.

Yes.

Okay.

And we're um actually looking at um different vendors we can use to get even more languages in.

So we're like I said, we're always looking for ways to minimize whether you're English speaking or non-English speaking, the same level of service is what our goal is to you know make sure that's delivered.

So we're looking at different vendors, different languages, we're always looking at different ways to improve that time.

Okay, um, so I'm building up this question.

I'm having a medical emergency.

I or someone around me calls 911, and you guys um on your end, y'all um ask questions to try to determine the best course of action.

Yes.

In some cases, they're transferred to nurse nav, correct?

And you guys do the transfer to nurse navigator.

Yes.

And at that point, a um ambulance is not deployed because the nurse navigator is speaking to them.

Yes.

Okay.

So my question then it's bouncing off a little bit of um Commissioner Bolton's follow-up.

So if I am Burmese and I call in and you go through your questions, but you can't go through those questions.

So it has to be transferred over to the interpreter, and they go through those questions, and then you, if you they determine it's best, deploy to the um individual having the emergency.

Is that correct?

So let me let me start.

I mean, just go through steps.

I called 911.

I'm having um, I can't breathe, for example.

Um, you ask a series of questions.

Do you have a heart problem?

Can you breathe now?

Is anybody with you?

Whatever those questions are.

But if it's a non-English speaking person and they're not Spanish, they're Burmese, you have to transfer it over to this interpreter service for them to ask the questions, and then you make the decision whether you're going to send them to Nurse Nav, who hopefully has interpreter interpreter services.

So the interpreter says on the line, so it's not an additional transfer, it's just that one transfer over to Nurse Navigator, and they're only on low acuity calls.

We don't transfer all calls only for our lowest level, which is alpha, only for low acuity calls, we transfer over to Nurse Navigator.

Okay.

So I can't breathe would never get transferred over to Nurse Navigator.

Okay.

Um so if someone passes out and they call, would that be a nurse nav?

No.

Okay.

All right.

Depending on the so, and and I'll put this in depending on how they answered the question, determines it's already built into the system which calls go over to Nurse Navigator.

So someone that passes out should not.

Now, if initially if they told us, because um sis situations change.

So if I said, hey, I have a headache, you know, and that went over to Nurse Nav, and now I'm calling back and says, Hey, now pass out, then that's an upgrade.

What we do is upgrade that service.

So anytime we have more relevant information, we update it based on that relevant the most up-to-date information.

All right.

Well, I just had an experience today that is not syncing with what you're telling me.

And you don't know what it is, but Mr.

Williams does, and so does Director Fulham.

Could we have an offline discussion to talk about this a little bit further?

It would give me some peace of mind because I just experienced it, not me personally, but I witnessed an experience, and it didn't happen the way that you just described it.

So that is concerning to me.

The second issue, I still think I'm trying to make sure I clearly understand.

I'm having a medical emergency, I call 911.

I'm non-English speaking, and I'm not Spanish.

I'm using your example again.

I'm Burmese.

You don't immediately deploy an ambulance over to this individual.

You transfer first to the interpreter.

You ask the series of questions.

So it's 15 seconds plus it could be up to two minutes, so two minutes and 15 seconds.

Then they start asking the questions in Burmese, and then you make that decision where they're going to um deploy an ambulance or not.

Is that correct?

That's how that works.

That is how it works.

Okay.

All right.

So when we have this offline discussion, I'd like to address that as well.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much.

I yield back.

And go ahead.

Commissioner Davis Johnson.

I would say, you know, because you can you can and I and I say this because I have experienced this.

When someone is saying and communicating over the phone, someone observing would not know both ends.

Was that would that be correct?

I mean, if if if I'm looking at somebody in the emergency, I'm not trained for that emergency.

And that person on the end that is talking to one of your staff who is trained, may not understand or is familiar what they are saying.

I mean, it could let me put it another way.

If I'm observing someone, and they call 911, and they get an operator.

And they are, I'm not on the phone with the operator.

They are but I'm observing them.

I'm not hearing correctly.

I'm not hearing what the operator is saying, but the operator is interpreting the information that the person is giving them.

Yes.

Okay.

And that person is trained to deal in that situation.

Your staff is trained to deal in that situation.

So I'm saying it may not what may seem to be happening, may not be what's actually happening.

As to an untrained person's eyes.

Right.

So that's why when we're we're asking the questions, they delve deeper.

So and then it'll take it.

So the this is um uh internationally recognized like protocol system that we use.

And depending on your answer, it will shunt or reroute the caller, call taker to the correct response.

Because again, these situations they change, you can start them as one situation and change to another.

So being a second party caller, you're there, but you're not the one who's using the operator.

And I just say that, Commissioner.

I just say that because I've seen that happen.

The people that are talking to me, you know, they they don't understand.

I mean, they understand on this end, but they don't understand on this end, will someone trained to answer what they're you know, so it may it may seem, and and I don't know what your situation is, but I'm saying sometimes things may not seem what they actually are.

Right, because it all depends on what you say.

So if we ask you, we go through the questions and we say, you know, is the person breathing, and you say yes, then it triggers another set of questions.

If you say no, it triggers a different set, and we immediately go into CPR if someone's not breathing.

So it depends on what the caller is telling us.

So it it just all depends on what the answers to the questions are, and depending on that answer, it reroutes to the uh most appropriate response.

So again, it just depends on what we're being told because again, we're not there.

The only thing we have to go by, we don't question integrity of the caller.

So if they say the person is breathing, the person is breathing.

They may or may not be, you know, but from what we're being told, that's how we go through the questions, and based on those answers, that's how the response is determined.

And if I could follow up briefly.

Uh yes, go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, so good point.

I certainly understand the sentiment of what you're saying in this particular case, though.

And again, this was two-day right before I arrived back here.

So it's very fresh on my mind.

And I won't go into who it was or where it was, but it is here in DeCap County.

Um the individual, there was someone else that contacted 911 who initially was responding on behalf of the individual having the medical emergency.

And then it was the phone was given to the person having the medical emergency.

And so I learned then that it was nurse navigator.

Nurse Navigator is out of California, is that right?

They're not in the Texas.

Texas.

Okay, I knew they weren't in the state of Georgia.

Okay.

And Nurse Nav is asking um questions of the individual having the medical emergency.

And so I again I I think it's in the best interest of everybody here for me to discuss this offline, quite frankly.

Yes, yes.

Um, but it was it it certainly was uh interesting timing coming into this presentation.

And I know that um we do the very best that we can, but when you observe something that didn't go the way that you described it, I think it's my responsibility to let you know that.

And you can address it and investigate it.

And if you know, if there's something that you can learn from it, that's sometimes what we have sometimes that's the best we can do.

So all right, thank you very much for that follow-up.

Okay, and I did have two additional questions going back to the slide that reads DeCab County E911 communications with the answer times.

Does this include is this primarily just standard emergency reporting, or does it also include when you have mass reporting because of a major incident like Glenwood Day or something, and and folks are doing donuts, because that could skew the data a bit if you have a hundred people calling about one thing?

It does skew the data because it it everyone is 59 calls, everyone is gonna be past that, except for the first caller we answered um within that time frame if I remember correctly, but um everyone else was over the 20-second threshold for those.

So this is everyday reporting.

Um we can tweak the reporting to specify a date and a time to kind of get an idea of how that event um impacted, uh call answer times, but we look at it, you know, holistically.

So we look for we do reports every 12 hours.

So after a day shift, they do a report, after night shift, they do a report, and it gives us the um call answer times for that time period selected.

This is just from January 1st to April 30th.

So it does include everything.

Okay.

And with these numbers, do you know how the difference or the increase?

I guess the improvement is what I'm trying to say.

Since we started the next gen, uh started using the next gen software, how much has it improved call times or response pickup times, response times?

Do you know?

I don't have a slide on that.

About 10%.

Okay.

Because we were at 71 at the end of last year.

71% of our calls were answered within 20 seconds at the end of 2025.

Now we're at 80.77 or 81%.

So I'll 10%.

81%.

All right, that's really good.

Those were my two questions.

Commissioner Terry, did you have any questions?

Anything else from you, Commissioner Davis Johnson?

No.

Okay, well, thank you so much.

We appreciate the presentation and the clarity, and we look forward to uh the new features that you guys will be adding.

I know the community will appreciate that, especially when it comes to I call it mass calling or mass event.

I'm not sure what you refer to it as, but that's gonna make a huge difference.

Oh, do how frequently do you know how frequently do we get those sorts of events that will jam up our 911 phone lines?

Daily.

Accident would jam up our phone line because everyone with a cell phone is calling about the same accident.

So it just depends if we have a shooting.

Everyone is gonna call about the shooting.

If it's a fire, everyone is gonna call about the fire.

So it depends on the day.

We used to have busier days on Friday, Saturday.

Now it's Tuesday.

So it really just depends on Is it really Tuesday?

Yes.

So full moons matter.

It it is so it just really depends on the day.

Um, but it again, it is a new system, first you know, overhaul period.

So we're learning and growing with it and making the necessary changes that we need to make with it.

Is it's great.

We have meetings every week.

Um the vendor was out on Tuesday and today to make any any issues.

We are we're relating that over to them immediately, and they're there to um fix whatever concerns that we may have.

So it's it's we're learning the system and we're customizing it to what we need it for.

So it's it's an ongoing process.

So it's been six months, and we've been tweaking it to fit our.

It will be interesting to see once we do implement the new features, how these numbers will change as well.

So I'm excited for the next presentation.

Absolutely.

We did add the ringing announcement, so it will say thank you for calling the CAB 911.

Please remain on the line until you call this answer.

Oh, yeah.

So the feedback is great because it helps us to improve.

So we always welcome any information that you're getting, you know, for any of the constituents to you know, continue to share that with us because it only helps us improve.

And okay, one more.

I know I keep saying I'm done with my question.

So have we deactivated the texting for all calls or just the callback issues that y'all were having?

If you call 911 and hang up, you won't get a text anymore.

Okay, all right.

Because I know recently I had to call, but I did also get a text message.

I think I was still on the phone when I got the text message.

Okay.

So we implemented about a week ago.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you so much, and I appreciate you coming back.

I know we didn't get you last time, but it was worth the wait.

Thank you, ma'am.

You're absolutely welcome.

Thank you.

All right, we don't have but a few.

Oh, geez, we only have 15 minutes, and we need to get through some of these contracts.

All right, so we're gonna start with item the new agenda items, fire rescue 2026 0903, all commitments.

Okay.

Um Zach Mr.

COO.

Were there but I started reading this item, but give me a sec, guys.

I just wanted to confirm if there were some contracts more urgent than others, so we can read through those first since we're running short on time.

How quick?

Okay, I don't think there's any uh station.

Okay, yeah, so we'll move forward with that one.

And we're getting a substitute now.

This is 2026 0903, Commission Districts 456 and 7.

This is for the fire stations 16 and 27 street lighting lease agreement.

How you doing, Chief?

Good afternoon.

How are you?

Very well.

All right, so um what we had on this um and the reason that we had a substitute because we had a change in funding.

Um, this is gonna be a splash funding project.

Splosh, excuse me, splosh funded project.

The are the amounts the same, just the funding mechanism is different.

The amounts are different per project uh for station 16 and station 17.

Can you write?

I'm sorry, yes, but the total is the same.

So, what's what we had on the original was the lease of so this is an elase agreement with Georgia Power for the lighting for the new stations.

What's gonna happen is we're gonna purchase the lighting for those stations, and then once the the lease agreement, the monthly service fees that go along with that for the lights once they have it, transportation then will pick up that cost.

Okay, are the are the parcels the same size for Arthur Queen is 2010 watts, and the other is only three?

Yep, so it's the streets and the neighboring parcels are not the same.

Um real briefly, these allow the each individual project, the two fire stations to meet the county standards for street lights in the area.

So one is an older neighborhood offers a chapel, needed more lights.

The other one's a newer neighborhood off of Rock Chapel, Pleasantale Road needed fural lights.

That's where there's a difference in price.

Okay.

That's reasonable.

Any questions from committee members?

Commissioner Terry.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

Um Zach, um, I think it was before Director Pelton retired.

He had worked out a different option for street lights where we had our own meter, and we weren't doing the Georgia Power Street Light Lease Program because I've said this for years.

This this is a racket.

The Georgia Power charges us more for the LED lights, even though it's one tenth of the power usage.

So I know we're trying to get the public service commission to change that tariff, but this is a racket.

We shouldn't be using the Georgia Power Streetlight program because they're just fleecing us and we're spending millions of dollars on street lights when really we should be saving money.

So the are these fire stations already built?

Okay, so I mean we got time, right?

Like why can't we just set up the same system that Director Pelton did where we have a meter, we're we're powering the street lights in front of the fire stations ourselves, and then maybe one day we got some solar on those fire stations, and now we're even saving saving even more money.

This time it takes Georgia Power a lot to get the equipment ordered.

We're gonna let the contracts just fall.

So it's not we can let us let us see if we can have a conversation with Georgia Power.

We can hold this and we'll bring it back back.

Don't talk to them.

Just talk to transportation because transportation had the same issue.

They didn't want to pay extra all this extra money, and they just literally, and I know like I'll give you a good example.

Athens Clark County Commissioners, when they do street lights now, they just set up their own meter, they do their own street lights, and they save more money.

So if it's not a hurry, I'd say let's find a way we can save.

I know it's like I think I don't think two weeks would impact us.

So if we held that for two weeks, all right, thank you.

And are we using the 100 watt LED because they have uh a longer lifetime?

Or is that just the only option available?

That's the standard, it's the cheapest.

We can operate.

Oh, okay.

That's their standard fixture now.

It's standard.

Okay.

All right.

It looks like we don't have any more questions.

Do we have a motion for this substitute item?

Yeah, I have a motion to defer this item to the next meeting.

And um, can you all look into the advantages and disadvantages?

Sure.

Of uh what commissioner Terry is saying.

And when um I know on the Queens, uh, I I know whether police the fire station is going to be built.

Wouldn't want it delayed.

True.

And so if we could look into what he is saying and come back with the recommendation within the two-week period.

Well, we'll be ready.

Okay, thank you.

Can you restate the motion?

I'm sorry.

Uh motion to defer for two weeks.

Second, all in favor.

Aye.

Okay, I think he got his uh okay.

You have a list for me.

Yes, ma'am.

So I think the items under police services beginning with the mutual aid agreement.

Uh, if we could take those, it it's certainly the 084042 and probably 683 would be good.

And Chief Pedrick's here to discuss it.

Uh that those are on page uh two.

You said starting with 0842 or 40.

40.

Okay.

All right.

Under police services, page two, item 2026 0840, all commission districts.

This is an agreement of mutual aid and assistance between DeCab County, Georgia, and the City of Atlanta, Georgia, for law enforcement services.

Okay.

Go ahead, Chief.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Uh, thank you.

This is uh a standard mutual aid agreement that we commonly do with major uh metro law enforcement agencies.

This one is particularly important uh because of the upcoming, you know, uh FIFA related events and activities, but it also applies to any large-scale events.

Uh we uh participate in mutual aid with all of our Metro Atlanta agencies, uh specifically with special operations and our special operations capabilities.

When there are times where our SWAT team is down, we may ask their SWAT team to come into the cab and assist us and vice versa.

So that's the purpose of this mutual aid agreement.

Any questions or concerns about this item?

No.

Okay.

Do we have a motion for this item?

The motion was to approve.

Second, all in favor, aye.

Item 2026 0842, all commissioned districts.

This is at the 2023 Urban Area Security Initiative Program Grant in the amount not to exceed 132,750.

Yes, ma'am.

Again, this is a grant item for uh the U Urban Area Security Initiative.

What we use this funding for through UASI is uh all of the Metro Atlanta partners participate in the um Axon FUCSIS platform and it's a uh camera integration platform that we all work together on and this uh item is funded through UASI, but it gives us the access with the other agencies as well.

Do we have a designated time frame where these monies have to be spent since it does say 2023?

Uh I believe it started in 2023.

This contract will be to 2027.

Oh, gotcha.

Wonderful.

And great job on all of the grants that you guys have had coming through recently.

Any questions?

Okay, do we have a motion for this item?

Motion to approve um 260842.

Second, all in favor, aye.

Motion carries recommendation for approval.

Item 2026 0683, all commission districts.

This is a renewal.

Contract number 138-1091, helicopter maintenance and repair service, annual contract, second renewal of four options to renew for use by police services to obtain helicopter repair and maintenance services for county helicopters, exercising second renewal option through June 30th, 2027, also ratifying a previously issued purchase order awarded to Rotor Rotor Resources LLC amount not to exceed $630,000.

Yes, ma'am.

This is for the police department's aerial support unit.

This is for one of our helicopters.

Uh specifically, the uh we have a request for an emergency funding for the 230,000 to repair the rotors on our aerial unit and the renewal option for the current contract of 400,000 that will take us through June 30th, 2027.

And it is funded through the police fund.

Okay.

And the ratification for the previously issued purchase order.

That's in that is an increase.

Or are I'm sorry, you guys paid out something previously and it's been added on here.

Yes, ma'am.

That was the emergency repair for the rotors.

The 230,000.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments for this item?

No.

Okay.

Do we have a motion?

Uh motion to approve.

Second, all in favor, aye.

Motion carries recommendation for approval.

Item 2026 0748, all commissioned districts.

This is a cooperative agreement.

Body armor with related accessories, equipment, and services.

It's a source well contract number 091924-GAL for use by the Department of Police Services to obtain level 3 plus rifle plates and helmets, awards to Gals LLC, amount not to exceed 192,464.

Yes, ma'am.

This is going to be funded through asset forfeiture funds.

And what we are doing with this project is to be able to give all of our officers an active shooter kit.

Uh the level three plates they won't wear all the time, they're heavy.

Uh, but in the event that they are responding to a reported active shooter, all of our officers will be provided with the gear to throw that level three plate on as well as a ballistic helmet uh to better protect them in response to active shooter incidents.

Any questions or comments on this item?

No, wonderful.

Okay.

Do we have a motion for this item?

Motion to approve.

Second, all in favor.

Aye.

Motion carries recommendation for approval.

And we will go ahead and take this last police services, fire rescue and public safety or public works, excuse me.

All commission districts change order number two to contract numbers 1266487, 1266488, 1266489, and 1266491.

Towing and record services, multi-year revenue generating contract for use by the departments of police services, fire rescue and public works, fleet management to obtain towing removal, storage and impoundment of wrecked and disabled vehicles for private citizens in six DeCAB County service areas, and includes towing services for county-owned vehicles, ratifying term increase and an increase in contract term through December 31, 2026, awarded to Brown Records Service, Inc.

DBA, Brown and Brown Record Service, SW Services of Atlanta Inc., South DeCap Towing and Transport Inc.

and Statewide Record Services, South Inc.

Contract Term Extension only.

And that extension is just through December 31, right?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Any questions or comments on this item?

No.

Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Motion carries recommendation for approval.

Um and we're right at 330.

So he's not having to speak.

I know I I have uh four o'clock.

Um so what I would like to go ahead and do, because the 911 discussion went a bit longer than I had expected.

If we could hold in committee 0687, 0303, 0683, 0596, and 0769 in committee.

Um, six.

Okay.

And if we could, Marcus, if we could start with zero five nine six at the next committee meeting.

Okay, thank you, sir.

All right.

If there are no other questions or comments, do we have a motion to adjourn the meeting?

Motion to adjourn.

Second, all in favor, aye.