By Rick Goldstein
APCO members elected the association’s new 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice President Tuesday as results were announced during the Second General Business Session in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
Michael O’Connor won an uncontested election for 2nd Vice President with 750 yes and 40 no votes. In the 1st Vice President election Jack Varnado won with 148 votes to Melissa Stroh’s 122 votes. Varnado is 911 director, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office Communications Division, Livingston, Louisiana.
The 1st Vice President election was held at the meeting due to the death of Mark Spross, who was serving as 2nd Vice President when he passed away last month.
The newly elected members of the APCO Executive Committee will be sworn into their new positions on Wednesday along with current 1st Vice President Stephen Martini, who will become APCO President, and current President Becky Neugent, who will become Immediate Past President.
APCO CEO and Executive Director Mel Maier told the assembled APCO members that the 2024 Annual Conference & Expo drew 255 exhibitors, more than 50 of whom exhibited for the first time this year.
“The state of the association of APCO International is incredibly strong,” Maier said, as he introduced the 2024 association report. Maier outlined how the association works to improve the industry and aid members, including recent conferences such as the February 6 Wellness Summit in Atlanta.
Maier touted the growth in educational offerings through the APCO Institute. These include the APCO Virtual Classroom, which expanded this year to 13 courses and 984 students. The Institute has also launched new courses, including Communications Center Manager while revising others, including Cybersecurity Fundamentals for the ECC, 2nd Edition. In the last year the association continued to establish industry standards, publishing one ANSI standard while maintaining 13 working groups writing new and revised standards.
Maier noted that, to date, a total of 250 have graduated as Certified Public-Safety Executives (CPEs).
“When we started this no one had thought this would be that popular. Everyone who has gone through it has said what? ‘This has changed my life.’”
Another 76 Registered Public-Safety Leaders (RPLs) have also graduated in the past year.
Improvements to APCO IntelliComm® include the ability for users to share quality assurance filtering lists that facilitate collaboration; and enhancements to international accessibility and usability across regions and languages.
The overall market for APCO frequency coordination has slowed, Maier said, but APCO has maintained its market share and business has remained steady. Meanwhile, APCO Consulting Services is growing, developing 13 proposals over the past year, he said.
The total individual membership is up to 40,758 members with a simultaneous rise in the number of member organizations, now totaling 1,745.
Maier also noted the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) decision to adopt language promoted by APCO that will help grow and maintain the integrity of NG9-1-1.
Finally, Maier showed images of the 4,700 square-foot expansion of the APCO International Headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, which included doubling of the conference/training room area.
Maier’s presentation was followed by representatives of federal agencies connected to public safety communications:
- Sarah Morris, principal deputy assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
- Billy Bob Brown Jr., executive assistant director for emergency communications, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agent (CISA)
- Deb Jordan, chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Morris said NTIA advises the president on telecommunications and information policy with regard to ensuring the reliability of 9-1-1 telecommunications tools.
“It is our partnerships with the 9-1-1 community that ultimately make these innovations possible,” Morris said. “You all make this work possible. All of you provide the real-world experience and feedback needed to create reliable first responder networks.”
Brown congratulated APCO’s work to promote professionalism in public safety communications through programs such as the CPE. He said the resilience of critical infrastructure depends on cooperation among actors on the federal, state, local, academic and private sector stage.
“We’re trying to advance public safety communications on your behalf but also in cooperation with you,” Brown said.
Jordan noted FCC policy changes backed by APCO related to NG9-1-1, and she encouraged APCO members to comment on the Office of Management and Budget’s pending decision about whether to reclassify public safety telecommunicators as a Protective Service Occupation.
Jordan said the need for some public safety communications policies was driven home to her when she had to call 9-1-1 to save her mother who was choking. The telecommunicator on the phone told her what to do, and paramedics were immediately dispatched to perform lifesaving care. Jordan said it gave her insight into the value of a new FCC policy designed to shave 30 seconds off some 9-1-1 response times by requiring call location routing to depend on phone locations rather than cell towers.
“I get it,” Jordan said. “We’re doing what we can to make it better for you all.”
