PSERN News! March Issue

From the Director

We are three months into 2016 and making great strides with the project.

Civil Site Development continues. We are still doing site walks and surveys to see if there any obstacles that might be in the way of work as well as going through the leasing and permitting process.

Recently we had two procurements go out for advertisement. The first one is and Invitation to Bid (ITB) is to acquire Shelters and Diesel Generators. They will be responsible for getting us the shelters or “buildings” that will house the radio system equipment at each site as well as the emergency backup-power generators. The second ITB is for a General Contractor (GC). The GC will provide construction of facilities and construction coordination for the first set of radio sites. This is a big job that entails tasks such as building towers, connecting or improving commercial power, electrical grounding work, pouring cement foundations and much more.

People are definitely excited about the opportunity to work on the Project. We had a great turnout for the recent GC pre-bid meeting with approximately 30 participants in attendance. There is a lot of work to be done so we expect to have several more ITB’s in the future. Another great aspect of this project is that in addition to providing the region with a new and improved radio system, we will be creating several job opportunities for King County businesses.

Thank you for your continued support.

-David Mendel, PSERN Project Director

PSERN Spotlight

Meet some of our PSERN Joint Board Members!  Fred Jarrett, Deputy County Executive/PSERN Joint Board Chair Fred oversees and directs the work of the executive branch of County government, including all its departments, operations and policy development.  He is also head of the Executive Leadership Team.  His responsibilities include leading the Executive’s Best Run Government Initiative, and creating a single management system focused on improved performance and transparency for citizens and stakeholders.   Previously a state senator, Jarrett also served four terms in the state House of Representatives, after stints as Mercer Island Mayor and as a city council and school board member. Mr. Jarrett has also had a 35-year career at The Boeing Company.

Lora Ueland, Executive Director, Valley Communications Executive Director Lora Ueland, RPL has served as Valley Com’s Executive Director since November, 2011.  Prior to that, she served as Operations Manager, Operations System Coordinator, Supervisor and Dispatcher.   Lora started her career in 1981 and left in 1992 for a short time, rejoining the agency in 1994.  Executive Director Ueland reports to the Administration Board and is responsible for planning and the operations of Valley Com to ensure provision of emergency services to the public.

Bill Kehoe, Chief Information Officer, King County Information Technology (KCIT) Bill Kehoe has served as the CIO for King County, Washington and the department director of King County Information Technology (KCIT) since 2010. Kehoe is responsible for a department of approximately 450 IT professionals in KCIT with an operating budget of $76M and has responsibility for and chairs the IT governance and project oversight committees in King County.  Kehoe and his team have consolidated the Executive Branch IT staff and budget into KCIT in 2011, consolidated multiple executive help desks to a single King County Service Center, fully implemented an IT service catalog and associated rates, and implemented the 2013 - 2014 KCIT budget solely on customer demand and revenue associated with the external customer services and rates.

Ron Gibson, Police Chief, City of Redmond Chief Ron Gibson has been with the City of Redmond Police Department since June of 2010.  Prior to coming to Redmond he served as a police officer for nearly 31 years in Colorado Springs, CO.   His last assignment in Colorado Springs was as the Deputy Chief of Patrol Operations.  Chief Gibson holds a BS Degree in Sociology from the University of Southern Colorado and a Master of Criminal Justice from the University of Colorado.  He has attended a number of leadership and command courses throughout his career to include the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA and the Senior Management Institute for Police at Boston University.  Note: Chief Gibson will be retiring next month and will no longer serve as a Joint Board member. We would like to say a special thank you to him for playing a key role in supporting the project with several key milestones. We wish him a happy retirement!

Next month meet Chief Gibson's replacement and the rest of the Joint Board members!

Project Buzz....

Whatever It Takes! 

As civil site development continues, our team is going out to various sites to figure out how to obtain power, where shelters will go etc..  Some of the radio sites are pretty challenging to get to in a regular vehicle. So this means our Construction Managers (CM's) and vendors have to sometimes hike into the location! 

Last week, our CM's went to Highway 2 West where conditions were snowy and due to a tree blocking the road, they couldn't drive in so they hiked. "We have to do what we need to in order to get the job done," said John Wright, PSERN Construction Manager. "It was a cold but productive day!", he continued.

Deliverables Galore Our team continues to read through several documents as part of the Motorola Solutions Inc. deliverables. At last count there were 12 different subjects 384 individual documents such as fleet maps, coverage maps, IP plans and much more! PSERN Mascots Firefighter Mic and Officer Squelch have been assisting our technical lead with this huge task!

Did You Know? That radio waves travel at the speed of light? They can travel as fast as 186,000 miles per second!

New Radio Features!  Over the last few months the PSERN team has worked with the PSERN Task Force to figure out what features are needed for the the new equipment. After several conversations about what Users of the emergency system would need, we came up with the list of features below:  Click the link to check it out! Standard Radio Features List   Next Issue: April  Email us: psern@kingcounty.gov  Web site: www.psern.org