APCO President Bill Carrow presided over the first general business session on Aug. 7.

“Now, more than ever, is the time to see public safety communications gets the support it needs,” Office of Emergency Communications Director Chris Essid told the Membership Quorum of APCO International at the First General Business Meeting on Sunday, Aug. 7, in Philadelphia as the 77th Annual Conference & Exposition officially kicked off.

Before the business came the Annual Golf Tournament and the grand opening of the Exhibit Hall.

Attendees anxiously waited for the Exhibit Hall doors to open promptly at 11 a.m. and thronged the hall to visit with more than 300 exhibitors. The New Product Pavilion featured presentations of several cool new antennas, a 360º covert, pan tilt zoom camera that mounts on light poles, a new service that sends citizen-reported premise information to PSAPs and more. (Check out the New Product Pavilion in the back left side of the Exhibit Hall on Monday or Tuesday.)

At 4 p.m., President Bill Carrow called the First General Business Meeting to order. He introduced the Executive Committee and Board of Directors and then announced the regional election results: For the Gulf Coast region, Woody Glover will be replaced by Debbie Galbraith on the Board.

Carrow then ceded the podium to First Vice President Gregg Riddle for the introduction of the Life Member candidates. Riddle announced that Carrow, along with Brent Lee and Mark Pallans, were the candidates for life membership. All three left the room and then Barry Woodward of the Georgia Chapter made a motion to grant them Life Member status. It was seconded by Jim Acosta of the Southern California Chapter [CPRA]. There was no discussion. In a voice vote, the Quorum unanimously voted to grant all three Life Member status. Past President Chris Fischer then ushered the new Life Members back into the room to a standing ovation.

Several individuals were then invited to the podium to address the Quorum.

Chris Essid said, “As [Sept. 11] draws near, many people are asking how far has emergency communications come. They want to know how well we’ve handled these challenges. We have come a long way. We continue to make improvements. … Interoperability isn’t something nice to have; it’s something you gotta have. Lives are on the line. … Ten years after 9/11, a lot of our hard work has paid off.”

Essid also acknowledged the challenges that remain for public safety communications: “Our teenagers have better technology in their pockets than our first responders do on the streets.

“If our office can do anything, do let us know,” he concluded. “I look forward to keeping this partnership with APCO going strong.”

Robert Gurss gave an update on regulatory affairs, addressing such topics as location accuracy, narrowbanding, 700 MHz and broadband issues, 800 MHz rebanding and more.

Regarding E9-1-1, Gurss said, “Recently the FCC issued an order consolidating those [network- and handset-based] orders. Over time (probably eight years), the network-based standards will go away and carriers will be required to meet the more stringent handset-based standards.”

Regarding narrowbanding: “The FCC issued a Public Notice that it will not extend the deadline but will entertain waivers. The waiver requests need to be filed by the end of this year.”

“A lot of progress has been made in 800 MHz rebanding,” Gurss said. “The border areas are still an issue. We’re still waiting for the Mexican agreement with the U.S. to be reached.”

Sean Kirkendall gave an update on the D Block campaign, saying, “We’ve come a long way with the D Block. We’re inside the 20, but we want to get into the [end zone] this year.”

Steve Souder, chair of the Professional Communications Human Resources Taskforce (ProCHRT), said, “When it comes to the human resources challenges of 9-1-1 calltakers and dispatchers. unfortunately, the country still rates an F, an F. … It is our fervent hope that this dismal situation will be corrected. We have a long way to go, but together we can get there.”

Dave Clemons then gave an update on the APCO International branding process (see our story). “Branding at its root is about people and what they feel about APCO.” He said that a Brand Manual will be created by January 2012 to assist the Chapters in implementing the new brand.

2nd Vice President candidate Mike Jeffres then spoke to the Quorum: “I have been involved with APCO for nearly 15 years attending the national conferences. I am a frequency advisor and chapter officer and have attended other chapter conferences and have been a speaker.”

In his professional experience with the state of Nebraska Office of the Chief Information Officer, he manages the public safety program that he built from the ground up.

“For 22 years,” Jeffres said, “I have worked in public safety communications at the technical and management levels. My greatest accomplishment, I have to say, has been in building partnerships to achieve common goals to improve communications among state and local first responders, dispatchers and elected officials. It takes a concerted effort to set expectations, agree on a commmon purpose and align interests.”

He continued, “I have a desire to serve. … I am ready to learn and serve at the national level.”

Riddle then explained the voting process that will take place at the Second General Business Meeting on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Carrow called the business session in recess, and the attendees headed to The Franklin Institute for the Welcome Reception. (Watch for photos tomorrow.)

There’s still a lot more to come over the next few days. FCC staff and representatives will be speaking at several sessions, and FCC Chair Julius Genachowski will be the featured speaker before lunch in the Closing SuperSession on Wednesday.

For those in attendance, we encourage you to take advantage of all the conference has to offer in the way of networking, educational opportunities and the chance to meet with your product and service providers.

For those of you who couldn’t attend this year, keep watching your e-mail inboxes to learn what’s going on.