HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSS 2021-05-17 Item 1B - Agreement - Emergency Police Communication Services with Valley Communications CenterCity of Tukwila
Allan Ekberg, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Community Services and Safety Committee
FROM: Chief of Police Eric Dreyer
BY: Chief of Police Eric Dreyer
CC: Mayor Ekberg
DATE: May 10th, 2021
SUBJECT: Service Level Agreement with Valley Communications
ISSUE
The Tukwila Police Department and Valley Communications desire to enter into an Agreement
for the purpose of establishing level of service requirements that will apply to both parties in the
provision of emergency police communications services.
BACKGROUND
As a city that formed Valley Com and along with other member cities, administers Valley
Communications' ongoing operations, member city obtains and pays for Valley
Communications' emergency communication services as provided for under the Valley
Communications Interlocal Agreement. Due to its unique administrative status as a member
city, Valley Communications and its member cities have not previously established written level
of service requirements and technical expectations as they mutually implement emergency
police communication services.
DISCUSSION
To clarify expectations of dispatchers, call receivers, and officers, Valley Communications and
the City of Tukwila jointly seek to establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA). All member
agencies are seeking approval of the same SLA with their respective member cities. The
proposed SLA has been vetted through the Tukwila City Attorney's Office.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact.
RECOMMENDATION
The Council is being asked to approve the Service Level Agreement with Valley
Communications and consider this item at the May 24, 2021 Committee of the Whole meeting
and subsequent June 7, 2021 Regular Meeting.
ATTACHMENTS
SLA
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SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION SERVICES
This SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR EMERGENCY POLICE COMMUNICATION SERVICES
("Agreement") is entered into between the VALLEY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER, a governmental
administrative agency formed pursuant to RCW 39.34.030(3) ("Valley Corn"), and [insert member
city name here], a Washington non -charter code city ("Member City,") and together with Valley
Corn, the "Parties" and each a "Party").
RECITALS
A. Valley Corn was formed pursuant to the Valley Communications Center Interlocal
Agreement, as amended and restated on April 17, 2000, as it may be further amended from time
to time (the "Valley Corn Interlocal Agreement"), as a governmental administrative agency pursuant
to chapter 39.34 RCW for the purpose of providing police, fire, and medical aid emergency
communication services in south King County and surrounding regions.
B. Under the terms of the Valley Corn Interlocal Agreement, Valley Com provides emergency
communication services to its Member Cities (as defined in the Valley Com Interlocal Agreement)
and other municipal corporations that exist within the logical, physical service area of Valley Corn
and that are in need of emergency communication services.
C. As a city that formed Valley Corn and, along with other Member Cities, administers Valley
Corn's ongoing operations, Member City obtains and pays for Valley Corn's emergency
communication services as provided for under the Valley Com Interlocal Agreement. Member City
operates a police department, and accordingly, partners with Valley Corn in the provision of
emergency police dispatch communication services.
D. Due to its unique administrative status as a Member City, Valley Corn and its Member Cities
have not previously established written level of service requirements and technical expectations as
they mutually implement emergency police communication services.
E. The Parties desire to enter into this Agreement for the purpose of establishing level of
service requirements that will apply to both Parties in the provision of emergency police
communications services.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing, and in consideration of the terms and
conditions set forth below, the Parties agree as follows:
AGREEMENT
1. DEFINITIONS. The following new definitions apply to this Agreement:
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"ACCESS" means "A Central Computerized Enforcement Service System", the data system
supporting all law enforcement agencies within the State of Washington and is owned and
operated by the Washington State Patrol.
"APCO" means the "Association of Public -Safety Communications Officers," an international
association with State Chapters.
"CAD" means the "Computer Aided Dispatch" system owned by Valley Corn.
"Call" means any request for public safety assistance, regardless of the media used to make
the request, including voice, text, video, or data.
"Contract Agency," when used in this Agreement, has the same meaning as "Subscribing
Agency."
"Mission Critical Systems" means those systems which, should they fail, would significantly
delay or stop the Member City's ability to receive an incident dispatch of a call for service
from Valley Corn.
"NENA" means "National Emergency Number Association."
"Project Approval Process" means the process approved by the Valley Corn Administration
Board by which new initiatives become projects that Valley Corn will implement.
"Valley Communications Center Standard Operating Procedures" means the list of approved
and signed procedures enacted by Valley Com, as it may be amended, modified and/or
restated from time to time.
2. TERM: This Agreement will take effect on the last date signed below, and shall be
automatically renewed on January 1st of each year thereafter for a period of 15 years unless
Member City withdraws its participation in Valley Corn or Valley Corn is terminated under the terms
of the Valley Com Interlocal agreement, at which time this Agreement will also immediately
terminate. This Agreement also may be extended by mutual agreement of the Parties.
3. VALLEY COM LEVEL OF SERVICE RESPONSIBILITIES. During the term of this Agreement, Valley
Corn will:
3.1 Maintain radio and support communications with the Member City from the time of the
initial dispatch until conclusion of the emergency and provide additional assistance as
needed.
3.2 Provide the Member City with a copy of the Valley Communications Center Standard
Operating Procedures, including amendments and updates.
3.3 Provide access to Valley Corn's F.C.C. licensed radio system resources, subject to those
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constraints and restrictions established and imposed by the Valley Com Administration
Board.
3.4 Receive emergency & non -emergency calls for service, interview and dispatch following
Valley Com policies; 24x7x365.
3.5 Collaborate with the Valley Corn Operations Board when effecting changes in Valley Com
practices and policies related to call interviewing and dispatching of units.
3.6 Recognize the following national and/or local standards and report as performance
objectives at least annually. For each standard, management will work with the Member
City and Valley Com Operations Board to develop mutually agreeable strategic plans to
address any gaps.
3.8.1 NENA call answering standard
3.8.2 APCO/NENA ANS Standard for the Establishment of a Quality Assurance and
Quality Improvement Program for PSAPs
3.8.3 Washington State training requirement for Telecommunicators
3.7 Ensure Operations staff are appropriately trained and prepared to perform their role.
3.8 Ensure that a continuity of operation plan exists, is current, and is routinely exercised.
3.9 Hold Technical User Group meetings comprised of Valley Corn and Member City
technical staff as a forum to share information, explore solutions, and inform the
technology plan.
3.10 Record and retain as required by law appropriate telephone, radio and electronic
communications.
3.11 Provide available CAD incident data for Member City's records management and other
systems.
3.12 Disallow access to Member City owned systems without prior permission from the
Member City.
3.13 Provide Member City with prior notice of service impacting maintenance to the extent
reasonable under the circumstances.
3.14 In the event Valley Com becomes aware of a cyber -security breach of Valley Com's
system(s), Valley Corn will notify Member City as soon as reasonably possible.
3.15 Route complaints and/or inquiries as to Member City personnel performance or conduct
through Valley Com's chain of command to Member City's Supervisory or Management
staff.
3.16 Provide information, data inquiries, and other related tasks, should Member City be
unable to directly access information.
3.17 When practical, regularly attend Valley Police Chief meetings, Patrol Commander
meetings, King County Police Chief Association meetings, and other similar regional
police meetings.
3.21 Because Valley Com has limited technical resources, track time spent on Member City
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ad hoc work requests that are not related to an approved project, and when Valley Corn
believes the effort is impacting other project deliverables, the Member City will be
consulted to develop a mutually agreeable work plan or other resolution.
3.22 Avoid interaction with Member City's contractor(s) to request service which would
create a financial obligation on the Member City.
4. MEMBER CITY LEVEL OF SERVICE RESPONSIBILITIES. During the term of this Agreement, the
Member City will:
4.1 Provide and maintain written alarm response procedures, on forms acceptable to Valley
Corn, designating equipment and other resources to be dispatched.
4.2 Comply with and conform to operational policies, practices, and apparatus numbering
configurations to those established by Valley Corn Operations Board and/or Valley Corn
Administration Board; apparatus renumbering will not be implemented without
consultation with Valley Corn.
4.3 Comply with all Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) policies and requirements.
4.4 Provide reasonable notice of annexations, incorporations, changes to Member City
jurisdiction boundaries and response plans to allow sufficient time for Valley Corn to
incorporate changes.
4.5 Follow the established radio communications protocols approved by the Valley Corn
Operations Board
4.6 Train Member City personnel to be familiar with and appropriately use radio and CAD
equipment.
4.7 Participate in the Valley Corn Tech User Group meetings.
4.8 Follow the Project Approval Process as defined in this agreement.
4.9 Not commit Valley Corn to an action, work or purchase without prior agreement from
Valley Corn.
4.10 Not allow Member City personnel to access Valley Com systems without prior
permission from Valley Com.
4.11 Not interact with Valley Corn's contractor(s) to request service that would create a
financial obligation for Valley Com.
4.12 In the event the Member City becomes aware of a cyber -security breach of Member City
systems that touch Valley Corn systems, notify Valley Corn as soon
as reasonably possible.
4.13 Complaints and/or inquiries as to Valley Corn performance or conduct will be routed
through the Member City's chain of command to Valley Com's Supervisory or
Management staff.
5. SYSTEMS AND SERVICES SUPPORT: The following support and service levels and
obligations apply to Valley Com and the Member City:
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5.1 Normal business hours for Valley Com technical support are Monday through Friday,
8:00 am to 4:30 pm, excluding holidays and weekends. After hours, the on -duty
supervisory staff will triage issues and will call out Tech Support if required.
5.2 The Member City recognizes that its internal systems and connectivity may be integral
to the performance of a Valley Corn owned or managed system. The Member City agrees
to troubleshoot issues prior to calling out Valley Corn Technical staff.
5.3 To report issues during normal business hours, the Member City will notify Valley Corn
via email to support@valleycom.org or by calling the Help Desk at 253-372-1575.
5.4 The following definitions and response time guidelines will be used by the Member City
and Valley Com, whether during or outside of normal business hours:
• Priority 1 (Mission critical) — significant delay or prohibits Member City's ability to
receive notification of a call for service. Immediate call out.
• Priority 2 — core operations unaffected but impacts efficiency. Initial response in
12-24 hours
• Priority 3 — inconvenient or annoying but clear workarounds exist. Initial response
in 24-72 hours.
• Priority 4 — non -emergent, non -impacting. Initial response in 72 or more hours.
5.5 Contacts outside normal business hours for affected systems and VCC's response to
issues are as follows:
Priority
After Hours
Systems
Notes
1 — Mission
Critical
Immediate
Call Out
Com Room Supervisor
253-372-1490
VHF Paging
Radio (See Note*)
Widespread outages, not
individual radio or paging
issues.
2 — Response
in 12-24
hours
Com Room Supervisor
253-372-1490
WebQUERY
MobileCOM
NetMotion
Agency internal Tech
Support available for
consult.
3 — Response
in 24-72
hours
253-372-1575 or
Support@valleycom.org
UDS transfer to RMS
Active 911**
(See Note)
4 — Response
72 or more
hours
253-372-1575 or
Support@valleycom.org
ESRI Dashboards
* Radio note — Valley Corn contracts with King County Radio Shops for radio
maintenance. Should there be system -wide radio issues, the Valley Com supervisor
will notify the Shops for response. When PSERN Operator assumes ownership of
the radio system, all responsibility will transition to PSERN.
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** Third party applications are governed by contracts between the vendor and Member
City. Valley Corn will verify CAD data is being passed to these systems but cannot
address issues within these types of applications.
5.6 Future Systems and Service priorities will be mutually agreed to as part of
implementation and may be added to this Agreement.
6. NEW PROJECT APPROVAL: The Parties will utilize the following project approval selection
parameters and process, which were adopted by the Valley Com Administration Board on March
4th, 2016, and which are subject to further Administration Board amendments enacted after
that date:
6.1 The purpose of this section 6 is to allow for a thorough review of Member City and
Contract Agency requests requiring use of Valley Com resources and to assess impacts
to the project schedule. Valley Com should not engage in projects without being able to
make a reliable, sustainable commitment to completion of the project. Implementing
this process will allow for more collaboration with Member City and reduce independent
implementation, instead creating more system -wide opportunities to allow for and
establish or re -assess project priorities.
6.2 For the purposes of this Section 6, the following definitions will control:
6.2.1 Project — Any operational or technical change to Valley Corn. Examples include,
without limitation:
• Applications requiring interface or integration to existing systems
• Introduction of stand-alone applications
• Changes in policy or practice that affect com room workflow
• Changes in service area
• Other requests as determined by Valley Corn
6.2.2 Project Champion/Sponsor — single point of contact within the Requesting
Agency. This person will assist in presenting the project to the stakeholder
groups.
6.2.3 Project Request Document — an internal document created and used by Valley
Corn
6.2.4 Stakeholder Group — may include one or more of the following groups:
• Advisory Committee on Technology (ACT)
• Patrol Commanders
• Z3 Ops Chiefs
• Operating Board
• Administration Board
6.3 The Parties will utilize the following process to evaluate and decide whether to adopt
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a potential new project, if requested by a Member City or Contract Agency:
6.3.1 the Member City or Contract Agency provides an introductory proposal
which must include a brief description of the project, the business need, and
the timeline needed for implementation. Valley Corn and requesting entity's
Project Sponsor will jointly review the project to determine baseline
information and complete a Project Request Document.
6.3.2 Valley Corn further evaluates the request to determine the following:
• Level of effort required
• Whether proposed solution meet expected outcomes
• Potential for discipline-wide/Center-wide implementation
• Whether solution introduces other issues
• Operational and technical impacts
• Estimated project timeline for implementation
• Ongoing support requirements
• Ability to support project; personnel, finance, current project schedule
6.3.3 Valley Com will then prepare and present a recommendation to Project
Sponsor, reviewing results of evaluation and supporting documentation. If
Valley Com determines the project proposal is feasible and warrants more
consideration, Valley Corn and/or the Project Sponsor will conduct further
analysis to prepare a scope of work draft.
6.3.4 Valley Com and Project Sponsor will present the project proposal to
appropriate stakeholder group(s) to inform them of project details including
scope, cost, timelines, and impacts to schedule, if any. The stakeholder group
will then make a recommendation whether to approve or not approve the
project to the remaining stakeholder groups, if any, all subject to final
approval from the Valley Corn Administration Board, except for project
requests that are minor in scope.
6.4 If Valley Corn deems a project request to be minor in scope and to not adversely
impact Operations, Tech Services or Valley Corn's project schedule, Valley Corn may
opt to approve and implement the request without further process.
7. LIMITATION OF AGREEMENT. This Agreement is entered into for the benefit of the Parties
to this Agreement only. The Agreement is not intended to confer any benefits on any other
parties and therefore no other or third party shall be entitled to rely on the terms of this
Agreement or anticipate receipt of any benefit as a result of the performance of this
Agreement.
8. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR; RIGHTS OF VALLEY COM OVER EMPLOYEES. In providing
services under this Agreement, Valley Corn is an independent contractor and neither it nor
its officers, nor its agents nor its employees are employees of the Member City for any
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purpose, including responsibility for any federal or state tax, industrial insurance, or Social
Security liability.
Valley Corn retains sole authority and control over its personnel, including but not limited
to the authority to set standards of performance and discipline for Valley Com employees
and any other matters related to control over Valley Corn personnel and performance of its
employees.
9. Entire Agreement. This Agreement, together with any subsequent amendments,
constitutes the entire Agreement between the Parties and supersedes all prior agreements
for emergency police communication services; however, in the event of a conflict between
the provisions of this Agreement and the Valley Corn Interlocal Agreement, the Valley Corn
Interlocal Agreement's terms will prevail over this Agreement. Any and all prior verbal
statements made by any representative of Valley Corn shall not be construed as forming a
part of or altering this Agreement in any manner. This Agreement may be executed in one
or more counterparts.
10. Effective Date. This Agreement will take effect on the last date signed below, with
subsequent terms renewable as provided for in Section 2.
(Signatures on following page)
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VALLEY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
27519 108th Avenue S.E.
Kent, Washington 98030
[insert member city name here]
By: By:
Lora Ueland, Executive Director
Print Name:
Its:
Date: Date:
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