By Claudia Wayne, FirstNet Senior Advisor

The Kentucky initial consultation meeting was held last week in Frankfort, Kentucky. More than 45 stakeholders gathered at the Capital Plaza Hotel to hear the latest updates from FirstNet staff. In addition to Kentucky state and local attendees, representatives from the states of Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio were present to learn from the consultation meeting and prepare for their own in the coming months.

Derek Nesselrode, the Kentucky single point of contact (SPOC), welcomed the group and encouraged questions throughout the meeting to better understand FirstNet’s offerings, plans, and approach. He emphasized that being engaged and having an open dialogue with FirstNet would help the group better understand how its public safety broadband network would evolve.

We began the meeting by asking participants what their objectives for the initial consultation were; responses included learning more about FirstNet timelines, potential system offerings, how the broadband network will augment existing operations, and coordination with NG 9-1-1. These objectives aligned well with FirstNet’s goals for the meeting, which included strengthening its good working relationship with Kentucky, providing updates including planning, strategy, goals, and activities, and learning more about the Commonwealth’s unique needs.

Kentucky representatives presented information about FirstNet-related activities to date. They discussed the strong governance structure - the Kentucky Wireless Interoperability Executive Committee - that serves as the advisory board for all wireless communications, integrates first responders into the strategic planning process, and provides annual updates to the state legislature. In addition, Kentucky also summarized its regional coverage pilot in the southeast portion of the state, the purpose of which was to perform a detailed review of coverage requirements. After the regional pilot, it developed a detailed work package on a county-by-county basis for the public safety emergency management community to provide feedback and suggested changes. To date, Kentucky has received responses from 74 percent of those surveyed.

State and local officials also presented how Kentucky uses mobile data in its day-to-day operations. Chief Paul See from the Lexington Fire Department described how its fire and emergency services use mobile data for dispatch information, documentation (medical information, including patient care reports), inspections/company surveys, and pre-plans. Chris Seidt, IT Operations Manager for the Louisville Metro Police, discussed how it functioned during the Kentucky Derby and Thunder over Louisville events. He described how there are two weeks of events that span from Thunder over Louisville to the, Kentucky Derby,which draw anywhere from 20,000 to 850,000 patrons, and he emphasized how coordination is key for these events. Multiple state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as the National Guard, FBI, and DHS are involved in the events. Lastly, Captain David White from the Paducah Police Department described how the City of Paducah and McCracken County officials responded to the January 26-28, 2009 ice storm. Based on the response effort, he described future communications interoperability needs such as collaborating with power companies to ensure cellular infrastructure has stable back-up power.

To learn more about Kentucky’s FirstNet activities, I encourage you to visit its FirstNet in Kentucky website that was launched in May 2014. The website contains helpful stakeholder information, including action items, news, and educational modules.

Thanks to Derek and his team for organizing the meeting. We look forward to continuing to work together with Kentucky in the future.

Claudia