Program Manager Update

I’ve been reminded recently that it isn’t always enough to think and act, sometimes you need to speak the actions that you are taking. With that in mind, I felt this would be a good time to remind every one of the actions that our office has undertaken to improve efficiency, provide better service, increase fiscal sustainability, and assist our PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) partners in sustaining their operations.

Technology – As I am sure you are aware, we are in the implementation stage of our Platform Modernization Project. With this project, we increase efficiency and capabilities, and allow for greater workforce flexibility. As an example of the increased efficiency, we reduce the number of connections to the state network from 26 to 6,  creating tremendous overall cost savings to the entirety of the 911 program and acting in a manner consistent with the State Plan.

Public Education/Outreach – We have dramatically increased our presence in the community, often with multiple events weekly. We have also made significant progress increasing the collaboration amongst our PSAP partners and other county agencies to ensure consistent messaging, while increasing our reach. The purpose of these efforts is twofold; provide a face to the community making engagement with public safety less intimidating and more efficient, while listening to community feedback to better provide the services they are asking for.

Fiscal Sustainability – The new platform vendor contract provides cost certainty for the next decade and includes consolidation of the network, support, and maintenance contracts, saving money over the period. In addition, the circuit inventories have been scrubbed, reducing where possible. We have squeezed this lemon hard, creating a strong financial plan and pushing the fiscal cliff past 2030. We have been fortunate and have experienced some revenue growth driven by an increased number of subscriber access lines (population growth); however, true long-term fiscal sustainability requires an increase in the 911 Excise Fee, something that has not happened in more than 10 years.

Financial 

Summer has arrived! The grass is green, and the skies are clear. The fruits of our labor are producing as another successful financial monitoring just wrapped up. The health of the 911 Program Office fund is strong now and for the foreseeable future. Excise Tax Revenue's overall continues to trend upward, and expenses remain in control. To top it all off, the Platform Project forecast continues to remain under budget. All in all, things are looking very well for the financial sustainability of the fund. Below is a look at the revenue forecast because who doesn't like a good chart!

Outreach

The Outreach Team was instrumental in envisioning and creating two new groups to assist PSAPs in addressing people focused challenges such as staffing, retention, mental health and wellness.  While the groups started out as King County PSAP specific groups, very quickly the leaders recognized the challenges were actually larger than just King County and invited all PSAPs in Washington State to participate. Building and maintaining connection is essential. 

Staffing Task Force – The Staffing Task Force provides a platform for PSAP hiring managers, recruiters, and operations managers to ask questions, share experiences, and discuss best practices on all things hiring and retention. This group developed a regional iHeart radio campaign to recruit potential new hires and introduce 911 as a career into the community in 2022. In April 2023, the group hosted a statewide 911 Recruitment Event in Tacoma which brought together over 18 PSAPs and more than 30 potential recruits interested in jobs in 911. In addition to the in-person event, the group has hosted three LIVE virtual Q&A events to share information about the day-to-day work of a 911 dispatcher and guide people through the hiring process. 

Goals for the staffing group include continued improvement of recruitment efforts while also addressing challenges facing retention within the PSAPs.

Peer Support Group – The Peer Support Group brings together personnel from PSAPs statewide to focus on mental health, wellness, and resiliency of PSAP personnel. The primary objective is to provide a place for mentorship, guidance, and support for Peer Support Coordinators and other leaders who want to support their employees.

Goals for 2023 include providing training for coordinators, develop a best practice guide for PSAPs when a critical event occurs, and identify and support the implementation of peer support teams in the state that are deployable and can provide mutual aid to PSAPs for peer support.

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." – Helen Keller

Testing in Progress...

For those  old enough to remember, there was a commercial in the 70s “We will sell no wine before its time”. That describes the state of mind when testing a new 911 system too. Every feature, function and setting must be validated to ensure it works correctly. When things don’t perform as expected, there must be investigation, configuration and troubleshooting before the test can be run again. Most problems are solved through minor configuration changes.  Other issues require more expertise to locate. These may require new software to be developed, tested, and released by the vendor. Once the update is applied to the King County Platform, the testing can be repeated to ensure the fix works as intended.

The entire project team, including King County resources, the entire Intrado cast and the PSAP stakeholders are all committed to the success of the system. Rushing the implementation to meet dates would not benefit anyone. As soon as the testing is complete, the Project Managers will work with the PSAPs and Intrado resources to reschedule the cutovers. This will occur during the 30-Day Acceptance period. 

The great news is that the PSAP implementation effort has continued. The training, equipment delivery and installations have remained on schedule. This is only possible because of the dedication of this team of professionals. A hat tip to the key members below:

• Marlys Davis – Project Manager, King County
• Tom Ahlborn – Project Manager, King County
• Pierre Marcoux – Project Manager, Intrado
• Steve Lagreid – Lead Technician, King County
• Khalid Khan – Technician (Map), King County
• Ryan Bone – Technician (CHFE), King County
• Intrado Technicians:  Tudor Popescu, Ron Torrez, Tom McConnell, Tom Loescher

Thanks to the considerable collaboration with the PSAP community and these experts, King County is leading the way to provide a one of a kind of next generation 911 system.

Legislation and 911

The latest Washington State Legislative Session ended on April 23, 2023, with two bills passing that impact the 911 community.

HB1055 changes 911 Telecommunicators’ retirement system from the current PERS (Public Employees’ Retirement System) to PSERS (Public Safety Employees’ Retirement System), allowing Telecommunicators and Supervisors to retire at 60 years old with full 100% benefits and at 55 years old with 85% benefits. HB1055 was passed and signed by the Governor with an effective date of June 1, 2024.

HB1134 provides updates to HB1477 to establish liability protection for 911 Telecommunicators (and other entities) for activities related to the dispatching decisions of 988 crisis hotline staff and the transfer of calls between 911 and the 988 crisis hotline. In addition to the liability piece, the bill directs the University of Washington to establish a crisis training and secondary trauma program to develop a training strategy for personnel in the behavioral health crisis system which includes 911 Telecommunicators. HB1134 was passed in legislature, signed by the Governor, and has an effective date of July 23, 2023.

The State 911 Advisory Committee stood up a new ad hoc committee to look at current funding models and revenue streams for 911 while looking at current and future needs. The goal of the committee is to provide a recommendation to introduce to the legislature in 2025.