Compliance Committee

Potentialf ailure of the e911 systemi s of concern.T his concernb ecamea reality when the optic fiber cable was cut in April 2004 causingt he entire e911 systemt o go out of serviced ue ..J to a non-loopedc onfigurationw ith the connectiont o the south.O n severalo ccasionst,h e Sheriff hasa pproachedV erizon, requestinga connectiont o the north to createa loop, allowing the signal to be reroutedt o other connectionsif broken, and therebyp reventingf ailure of the e9l1 system. Verizon has refused,s tatingi t would be cost prohibitive. As recently as the May 4, 2004, Board of Supervisorsm eeting, the Sheriff reported ongoing deficienciesc oncerningt he statuso f the county's telephones ystem,a nd recommendedth e boardm ove to a legislativea pproacht o include the loop improvementsin a revisedt ariff that allows Verizon to operatei n the county. The Board of Supervisorsd iscussedt his recommendationa t the May 7, 2004, Council of Governments meeting,w herea vote was takent o addressth e problem with a regionala pproachT. he Council of Governmentsis comprisedo f representativefsr om Inyo and Mono counties,M ammothL akesa nd Bishop. Staff hasb eena ssignedto follow up with this approach.

Safety issues concerning lack of signage on private roads and building numbers on private homesw ere identified, preventingo r impairing emergencyr esponsep ersonnelt o locate residentsa nd/or visitors in a timely manner.S taff hasr eviewedt he county's codesa nd ordinances and hasd eterminedt here is confusion regardingo lder buildings. The County Code is clear in its requirementsfo r new construction,b ut less clear concerningi ts authority regardinge xisting and older construction.R ecommendationtso clarify the County Code will be presentedt o the board this summer.T his has not been addressedy et due to lack of availabler esourcesm, ost likely as a result of relatively low professionals alaries. The salary level will be increaseda s neededt o 11 attract qualified candidatesu ntil the positions are filled. Implementation of the program to improve signage will also be problematic due to ongoing budget constraintst hat have been further aggravatedb y the stateo f California's budgetd eficit. J Public Works staff has developeda program to provide signageo n private roads using county equipment,t ools and materials.T his is a voluntary,o ngoing problem.r elying primarily on local Regional Planning Advisory Committeest o disseminatei nformation to property owners. The property owner is responsiblef or installing signs and building numbers.A public education program will be neededt o encouragep eople to improve signage,a ddressa nd other emergency information.

Accuracy of the e9ll databasei s of concern. Local fire departments,t he Building Division and other agenciesh ave beenw orking in conjunctionw ith Public Works staff to identify address discrepancies,p rimarily through the issuance of new building permits. Duplicate addressesa re being revised in older developmentsw ith on-site inspectionsb eing done through 'J inspectionsf or constructiol).S taff working on the county GeographicI nformation System has identified 400 duplicate addressesin condominiumsi n the county, which have been corrected. Discrepanciesa re being correcteda s they are reported;h owever,o lder addressesc ontinuet o be problematicd ue to budgetc onstraints.

The need for a special health needs data base was identified. A system is in place through the Health Departmentt o collect confidential information concernings pecialn eeds.T he information is maintainedi n the county's GIS system.T here are confidentiality concernst hat need to be resolved, and once this is accomplished,i nformation will be disbursedt hrough the Sheriff s departmenta s neededt o the EMS system basedo n a call from a particular location. There are strict rules that preventt he county from distributing medical information for EMS's in- houseu se. RECOMMENDAn ONS I. Imple~ntation of improve~nts to the county's e911 telephone system must be aggressively pursued by the Board of Supervisors until Verizon makes the required loop connections.

The Board of Supervisorsn eedst o hold Verizon accountablefo r the moneysc hargedo n individual phoneb ills for the e911 system. 12