Purpose of Johnson County communications center explained

Johnson County's new joint emergency communications center, which has been surrounded by controversy in recent months, opens July 1.

With that date coming up, Mike Wright, the chair of the center's governing board, has penned a piece explaining the center's history and purpose.

What follows is an unedited copy of what he wrote.

The opening of the Joint Emergency Communications Center (JECC) is only a few weeks away, presenting an opportunity to ensure that residents understand not only how the center works, but why it, and its parent organization, the Joint Emergency Communications Service Agency (JECSA) came to pass.

JECSA is an independent, self-governing agency created under section 28E of the Code of Iowa. It is not part of Johnson County, the City of Iowa City, or any other entity. JECSA is comprised of representatives from Johnson County, Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency. The Joint Emergency Communications Center (JECC) is governed by a Policy Board made up of two members each from Iowa City and Johnson County, and one member each from North Liberty and Coralville plus the Director of the Emergency Management Agency. The JECC Board is charged with creating and operating an agency which provides coordinated emergency communications services to law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS) in Johnson County.

JECSA came into being because the current emergency communications systems used in Johnson County are outdated. Johnson County, Coralville, and North Liberty use a radio communications system known as VHF which is limited in the amount of message traffic it can handle, is not particularly reliable, and has poor ability to provide coverage for portable radio. Iowa City currently uses a different system (800 MHz) that has passed the end of its useful life and badly needs to be replaced. Additionally, a user on the Johnson County system cannot talk directly with a user on the Iowa City system, and these systems don't work in all areas of larger, complex buildings such as Coral Ridge Mall or University Hospital.

Recognizing the seriousness of poor emergency communications systems, a substantial community discussion produced the idea of a joint communications center. Such centers already exist in Black Hawk and Woodbury Counties and a similar center is being constructed in Scott County. Following some additional conversations, the cities of Iowa City, Coralville, and North Liberty, and Johnson County, formed JECSA to address the problems. As a result, there will soon be one emergency dispatch center for all of Johnson County, and all the communities in Johnson County -- urban and rural -- will have expanded and seamless emergency communication.

To accomplish this goal, JECSA is in the process of installing an advanced, state-of-the-art radio communications system that is interoperable with VHF and 800 MHz radio systems and compliant with communications industry standard P25. The system is being installed in its new facility on Melrose Ave. in Iowa City and is supported by a network of 7 transmission towers throughout the County. This pleasant, modest building is also a secured high-tech facility. It's supplied with backup generators and is built to withstand an F3 Tornado, helping ensure that emergency communications throughout Johnson County remain “on-line” in a crisis.

Upon completion of the P25 system, the combined dispatching operations of JECSA will offer many advantages over the existing systems and operations. Chief among these is a single point of contact for all emergency communications throughout the county. Right now, messages must be relayed from one agency to another when the response involves different agencies. Combining our dispatch centers will avoid having one agency duplicate the work of another, making emergency communications more efficient and more effective.

All current dispatch personnel from both the Johnson County Sheriff's Office and the Iowa City Police Department have been offered positions at similar salary with JECSA. The combined centers and the addition of several more dispatchers will permit the scheduling of additional staff during busy times and more importantly will improve the communications provided to fire and EMS responders because dispatchers will be dedicated to all emergency service providers, not primarily law enforcement.

Dispatchers will soon be able to notify all local public safety/EMS agencies of significant events (serious crimes, storms, etc.) with a single broadcast. For example, officers from all the law enforcement agencies will be made aware simultaneously of an armed robbery occurring in any jurisdiction. Officers from other agencies will be able to respond, assist, and look for suspects or suspect vehicles.

To provide better coverage in rural areas, JECSA built four new radio towers and has use of three additional towers, two of which are owned by the University of Iowa. With equipment on all seven towers we will now have coverage across 95% of Johnson County. All public safety agencies in Johnson County will have new mobile and portable radios designed to operate on the new system to make sure emergency communications in rural areas and smaller towns is as good as it is in the urban centers.

In short, the Joint Emergency Communications Center is a huge step forward for police, fire, and emergency medical services in Johnson County and is a big advance for public safety. The center will open, right on schedule and under budget, on July 1. Once open, the transition to the new radio systems will begin, and should be complete by mid-fall. The public will notice no interruption in emergency dispatch.

The JECSA Policy Board invites all interested citizens to come and take a look at our new center and learn about JECC's operations at an open house June 19 from 1-3 PM. To find the JECC, follow Melrose Ave. west of Highway 218. The JECC is located behind Chatham Oaks and there are signs on Melrose. Visit

http://www.jecc-ema.org/ for more information.