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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-05-28 Standardization Committee MinutesMINUTES COUNTY OF HAWAI`I STANDARDIZATION COMMITTEE Tuesday, May 28, 2019 County Building Finance Conference Room 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2103 Hilo, Hawai`i CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Deanna Sako at 9:00 a.m. ATTENDANCE There was a quorum with the following committee members and staff in attendance: Deanna Sako, Director of Finance Joseph Kamelamela, Corporation Counsel David Yamamoto, Director of Dept. of Public Works Grant Nagata, Accountant III of Office of the Prosecuting Attorney Reid Sewake, Business Manager of Parks & Recreation Also present: Steven Hunt, Deputy Director of Finance Sebastian Calaway, Purchasing Agent — Finance Department Crystallene Pacheco, Private Secretary — Finance Department Talmadge Magno, Civil Defense Administrator John Drummond, Radio Systems Manager of Civil Defense Nancy Cook -Lauer, West Hawai'i Today Absent: Lee Lord INTRODUCTION Those present at the meeting were introduced by Ms. Sako. MINUTES OF MARCH 21, 2018 MEETING Mr. Kamelamela moved to approve the minutes of the March 21, 2019 meeting. Mr. Hunt seconded. Motion carried. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC (AGENDA ITEMS ONLY) There were no statements from the public. NEW BUSINESS Agenda Item 1: Standardize the purchase of Ballot Sorting Machinery for the Office of the County Clerk. Mr. Kamelamela made a motion to approve the item and it was seconded by Mr. Sewake. Ms. Sako — Unfortunately Aaron Brown could not be here today but all the information is on the Standardization Committee Form that was submitted prior. The Legislature approved a 100% mail in ballot for election year 2020 therefore our Elections office needs a machine to process and sort all of our ballots. Ms. Sako — The ballot sorting machinery is currently being used by the City and County of Honolulu and they know it can tie into the TotalVote registration system. I understand all the Election offices had a meeting recently on Oahu to discuss the ballot sorting machinery and believe all the other counties will be getting the same machinery, possibly in a different size depending on their population. Ms. Sako — Any questions? We can also call Mr. Brown if needed. Mr. Hunt — The County Clerk's office is also looking into other requirements that might go with the machine in terms of power source, does it need a 220v, humidity factors, location of the large machine, etc. Ms. Sako — Yes, the County Clerk's office is holding a meeting tomorrow with Public Works to work on the logistics and to make sure they have the right resources to accommodate this machine. Ms. Sako — The Primary will be in August of 2020 so the county clerk's office would like to be sure all the details are in place, be able to test it to be sure it's reliable, it functions correctly, and our network can accommodate it. We're looking at bringing on a special fiber line. Mr. Nagata — Is the of the mail -in ballots on a different format? Ms. Sako — It may be, but they'll work on that statewide. It's a statewide process, so that it can be easily read. Ms. Sako — any other questions? None. The Committee voted and motion was carried. Agenda Item 2: Standardize the purchase of Nokia Microwave Equipment for Civil Defense. Mr. Kamelamela made a motion to approve the item and it was seconded by Mr. Yamamoto. Mr. Drummond — The rationale behind our request to standardize the Nokia microwave is because the county is moving forward with MPLS equipment for the county's network. Civil Defense's goal is to combine the fiber network with the microwave network so that they can each act as a backup in case one fails and it can be switched over to the other system. The danger in that is if we go with a different manufacturer other than our MPLS system, would be the compatibility between the two systems. Mr. Drummond - If we stick with Nokia microwave, one monitoring system can monitor the entire network including microwave and fiber. It makes a seamless operation and we're not trying to get two different vendor or manufacturer's equipment to work together. Mr. Nagata — What does MPLS stand for? Mr. Drummond — Multiple Protocol Label Switching. Ms. Sako — It's the switches that talk to each other so that our network can run and our radio system connects in as well. Mr. Drummond — It will allow the radio system to use the fiber network as back up in case we have a microwave link go down. It allows IT to utilize the microwave system is case we have a fiber outage. Mr. Drummond — MPLS is a protocol that when the data leaves its source, it's divided into packets; rather than following one path to get to its destination, it will look at all the paths and get there as fast as possible using multiple paths. It's an automatic patch. In the old days you would have to take the patch cable and physically plug in to change routes. Ms. Sako — Plus, the microwave equipment is nearing end of life so this is a prime opportunity and good time to standardize these. Mr. Hunt — As mentioned before, Civil Defense is not using the 800 MHz because the distance and coverage just doesn't make sense for us? Mr. Drummond — The 800 MHz works well in urban areas where you're trying to get building penetration especially when you're dealing with high rise buildings. For rural type of setting where you're not dealing with large buildings, you're dealing with a lot of foliage the VHF (Very High Frequency) provides better penetration through the foliage and will also tend to follow the curvature here so you'll get better coverage. Mr. Hunt — and our all our Emergency Responders are carrying,P25 radios? Ms. Sako — Yes. Mr. Drummond — We have approx. 2,900 radios out there. All the portables, all the mobiles, and mountain top equipment's have all been changed. Ms. Sako — Any questions? None. The Committee voted and motion was carried. Agenda Item 3: Standardize the purchase of Kohler Radio Site Generators for Civil Defense. Mr. Kamelamela made a motion to approve the item and it was seconded by Mr. Hunt. Ms. Sako — These are generators that power each radio site. Mr. Drummond — Generators are there in the event we lose commercial or HELCO power. Right now Civil Defense has a variety of manufacturers; Kohler, Generac and Polar Powers out of California. We would like to standardize and so that we're stocking the same parts and we're not trying to find different vendor when a generator breaks. We would like to streamline the operations for generators. Ms. Sako — of the 3 brands you have right now, the Kohler is the most stable, steady and works the best... Mr. Drummond — It's proven to be reliable and it's easy to find vendors. There's one Generac vendor on the island and they haven't expressed any interest in trying to take care of the Generac we have. Ms. Sako — It's important not only to have the generators but to have them maintained as well. Mr. Sewake — So we have Kohler vendors that will? Mr. Drummond — Yes, there is more than one in Hilo. So we can get some competition. Mr. Magno - So the current county contractor, they can do Kohler as well? Mr. Drummond — Yes. Mr. Hunt — What's the typical life cycle of a generator? Mr. Drummond — It depends. There's a lot of factors, the weather, the conditions at the site, and the stability of the power at the site. Mr. Hunt — Are these typically put on a replacement cycle schedule or is it just as needed as they come up? Mr. Drummond — Up to this point, the generators have not been on any schedule. We have one we need to replace right now and the other a probably looking at 10-15 years down the road. It's not something that fails very often. Mr. Magno — The generators are the back-up power to all the systems. The primary power is HELCO or PV right? Mr. Drummond — Right. Mr. Sewake — These are diesel generators? Mr. Drummond — Propane. We don't use diesel at any of the radio sites because they're in remote areas. If you have a fuel spill, now you have a real problem trying to clean it up. With propane, if you have a leak it just evaporates. You lose your fuel but you're not dealing with environmental issues. Mr. Kamelamela — You say the County maintains 14 out of 21 radio sites? Ms. Sako — The County maintains 14 generators out of the 21 sites. Mr. Kamelamela — So the other 7 is what? Mr. Drummond — I should have written it out better. In 7 of the other sites, we're either in two State sites. They maintain their own generators. Other sites like the Kona Police Station; their radio equipment is connected to the big generator that powers the entire station. Ms. Sako — We power for each of the 21 sites but only 14 of the generators are ours that we maintain and would standardize. Mr. Sewake — Any issues with anyone trying to steal the propane? Mr. Drummond — No, but we have two sites that are solar powered and we've had problems with theft of solar panels in the past but recently we haven't had any problems. Ms. Sako — Even if you're asking to standardize on Kohler, it would be as the other generators wear out or expire. It's for new generators. They're not going to go out and purchase all Kohler generators one time. Mr. Drummond — Correct. Ms. Sako — Any more questions? None. The Committee voted and motion was carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS None. ADJOURNMENT There was no further business. Mr. Kamelamela made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Mr. Hunt. The meeting adjourned at 9:13 a.m. Respectfully submitted Crystallene Pacheco