SOUTH DAKOTA ONE CALL NOTIFICATION BOARD MEETING

February 19, 2008

 

Chairman Jerry Schroeder called the South Dakota One Call Notification Board meeting to order at 1:00 PM in Conference Room B at the Holiday Inn Express in Fort Pierre, SD.

 

Board Members in attendance forming a quorum: Jerry Schroeder, Doug Larson, Kurt Pfeifle, Todd Chambers, Paul Lowe, Terry Larson & Eugene Solseth.  Board members absent:  Kevin Kouba, Rod Cundy, Bleau LaFave and Ed Anderson.  Also in attendance: Larry Englerth, Executive Director to the South Dakota One Call Board, Kara Semmler, legal counsel to the South Dakota One Call Board, Doug Wudel (ELM Locating Service) and Rich Coit (SDTA)

 

Executive Director requested that Fax-A- Locate process be added to the agenda under 5b (Center Operations) A motion was made by Gene Solseth and seconded by Kurt Pfeifle to approve meeting agenda as modified.  Motion Carried by unanimous vote

 

A motion was made by Paul Lowe and seconded by Kurt Pfeifle to approve the minutes from the Board meeting on October 23, 2007 and the Administrative Rules hearing on October 23, 2007.  Motion Carried by unanimous vote

 

Financial Report for the fiscal year 2008 was reviewed by the Board reflecting actual revenues/expenditures through January 2008.   The Board also reviewed the itemized expenditures for the period of October 2007 through January 2008.  Included in the report was call volume data through January which reflect a 4% decrease for the calendar year 2007. A motion was made by Doug Larson and seconded by Todd Chambers to approve the financial report as submitted. Motion Carried by unanimous vote.  The executive director provided a report on the SAS 70 audit conducted on the vendor.  Discussions with the auditor highlighted no significant deviations and the formal written report should be received by the middle of March.

 

The following operational items were discussed:

1. Center performance results through January 2008 were reviewed.  Overall performance results were at or above contractual levels.  The executive director will acknowledge the Boards appreciation to the vendor for the continuing high performance levels which have resulted in the elimination of all complaints for service deficiencies over the past several years.
2. The Board reviewed the pending schedule of technology items to be deployed.
1. The Board reviewed the status and progress in the maintaining high quality map sources for the System.  Several issues were highlighted

1.         The “Map Note” system has been introduced which will allow excavators (IBIS users) and CSR’s to notify First District of mapping additions or errors. This process was implemented during the fall of 2007 and will be of great value in the future.  In this process several issues were discussed

                                                                                    I.      First District will be required to make a process transition on map updates from a programmable work cycle to a demand (responsive) work process.  Value of map changes is time sensitive and many locate requests are during the early process of development.  The executive director is working with the Center to develop a tracking mechanism so that, at some time in the future, the timeliness of responses can be measured.

                                                                                  II.      Previous to this change, the Board had control over all costs associated with the map process.  The executive director was requested to monitor the current costs through the end of this year and to establish a control method in the 2009 contract with First District.

2.        Many map entities in South Dakota (Counties, Cities, and Planning Districts) are automatically providing map changes to First District as a routine part of the process.  This highlights the success of the previous years in developing an effective map system but also carries the same issues identified in #1 above.

3.        The Board requested the executive director to pursue cost sharing with any non-member that desires to use the maps that have been cooperatively developed with the other entities in South Dakota.  The only request received to date is from the State.

2. The schedule for deployment of ‘FM online’ was discussed in detail.  

1.        At previous meetings, the Board has discussed the original technology committee presentation that identified the system only required testing prior to deployment.  This product was targeted in an agreement associated with the last contract to be deployed during the fourth quarter of 2006.

2.        At the previous meeting, the Board had requested that the Executive Director monitor the deployment to insure that this process is deployable no later than January 1, 2008 and has all the features identified in the agreement.

                                                                                    I.      The executive director had a conference call with the vendor in early January to review the progress of the system and at that time it appeared the system would be ready for deployment.  During a cursory review of the product, the only issue identified at that time was that the original proposal from the vendor indicated that multiple methods of identifying the facility operators’ facilities would be available within a CDC code.  The current system being developed is limited to two methods of identifying the location of facility operators’ facilities in the database.  One is using one-tenth minute grids and the other is using a polygon system but these systems cannot be used in the same CDC code.

                                                                                  II.      The vendor and the executive director identified several parties that would be available to field test the process once the vendor’s internal technological testing was completed.

                                                                                 III.      During the vendor’s internal technological testing, some minor issues were identified but most appeared to be solvable.

                                                                               IV.      In early February, the system was available for the executive director to do some trial and error testing of the features available.  In the process several major issues were identified that are not acceptable to the South Dakota One Call System.

                                                                                                         i.            The map source information available to the user is limited to the lat long location of the grid source.  This excludes the use of the “I” (information) feature to identify map features such as mile markers, road names, TRSQ, etc.

                                                                                                       ii.            The process does not have a find feature (location search) which allows a user to find a specific point from which to start their use of the process.

                                                                                 V.      The system, as currently designed, would be a step backward from the current desk top version which the Board had intended to replace.  The system would probably be of value to current non-FM users and could be considered as a temporary replacement step for these users.

3.        The Board requested that the executive director continue to monitor the process and to insure that the replacement system meets the future needs of the South Dakota One Call members.  If necessary, the Board recommended that the members of the 2005 technology committee meet with the vendor and resolve the required features and time frame differences.  The Board also requested that in future contracts, technological deployments features and schedules be included as an addendum to the contract and that some type of penalty clause considered.

3. The Board discussed the plan to eliminate Fax-A-Locate process at the end of 2008. 

1.        Fax locate requests are targeted for elimination for the following reasons:

                                                                                    I.      In many instances, the quality of the information received is not acceptable and has the potential to result in inaccurate ticket information

                                                                                  II.      The fax process is the most labor intensive and by far the most expensive method currently being used.  The costs are borne by the member companies. The labor intensity is due to the requirement to enter all information into the system and to seek out answers to unreadable or incomplete information

                                                                                 III.      The fax process requires the vendor to send a fax copy of the ticket to the excavator.  This service is provided free of charge and is contrary to how we invoice members who receive tickets via fax.  They currently pay a surcharge to receive tickets via fax.  It is anticipated that the cost of fax transmissions will continue to grow in the future.

                                                                               IV.      The vendor, at the direction of the technology committee, introduced a web based system (ONTRY) that provides all the benefits of fax without the accuracy and cost issues.  This process was introduced during 2007 and has been utilized by many excavators with positive response from all users.  The user receives a copy of the ticket via email within two hours of processing.

2.        One Call Systems has blocked all new users to the fax-a-locate process

3.        All fax-a-locate users that processed more than 100 locate requests during 2007 have received notification that they are required to migrate to electronic or telephonic processes by the middle of March.  This involved about 50% of the fax locate requests during 2007.  Many of these excavators attended the electronic ticket training in Sioux Falls and Rapid City during the week of February 11th.

4.        The fax-a-locate process will be completely eliminated at the end of 2008.

                       

The following items were presented to the Board for discussion and approval:

1. Approval of Complaint Dockets: A motion was made by Kurt Pfeifle and seconded by Doug Larson to approve the dockets listed below: Motion Carried by unanimous vote
1. OC07-007 - In the Matter of the Complaint filed by City of Crooks against Solid Fence Company. – Both parties accepted recommended resolution
2. OC07-008 - In the Matter of the Complaint filed by PrairieWave Communications against the City of Hurley. – Both parties accepted recommended resolution.
3. OC07-009 - In the Matter of the Complaint filed by the Northern Natural Gas against Bowes Construction. – Both parties accepted recommended resolution.

 

The Board had discussion on the following other business items on the agenda.

1. The Board had discussion on the following rules items.  The executive director was requested to prepare draft language and distribute to the Board members thirty days prior to the next Board meeting.  This will allow the Board members to obtain input from their constituencies prior to making a decision on whether to proceed with a formal rules process.
1. Service Lateral Committee advised the Board that while significant discussion and alternatives were presented, no agreement could be reached by the parties.
2. The SDTA requested the Board to address the issue of excavators generating repeated locate requests when no excavation activity occurred during the previous request.
3. Establishing mandatory premarking of the excavation site when excavation occurs within boundaries of municipalities or mandatory premarking of the excavation site when excavation occurs in the public ROW
4. Establish a minimum marking interval from the premarked route when the locate request does not indicate a specific distance from the white marked route.
2. Kara Semmler provided the Board with options that could be considered to improve the interchange of information during the hearing process.  Board was receptive to the information and deferred action until the next hearing is required.
3. The Board requested the executive director to enter contract negotiations with One Call Systems on a contract for the 2010-2012 period.  This will allow for an effective transition period for the new executive director prior to a new vendor contract being required.
4. Kara Semmler provided a report on the status of the collecting the penalty on OC05-005 against Vince Finkhouse dba Eagle Excavating.  A motion was made by Kurt Pfeifle and seconded by Paul Lowe to continue the legal action to collect the funds due. Motion Carried by unanimous vote
5. Executive Director requested Board approval to request PUC approval to pursue collection action on OC07-006 against Mark Seifkes dba S.P.O.T.  Mark Seifkes accepted a suspended penalty under the condition that he either become a member of the South Dakota One Call System or enter into an agreement with a third party to accept responsibility for the database management and locating of the sewer line in the public ROW.  Mr. Seifkes took no action to resolve the issue.  A motion was made by Paul Lowe and seconded by Terry Larson to request PUC approval and if received, to pursue collection action against Mark Seifkes dba S.P.O.T. Motion Carried by unanimous vote

 

The executive director provided a recommendation of candidates for officers of the Board:  Ed Anderson as Chair, Bleau LaFave as Vice Chair and Rod Cundy as Secretary/Treasurer.  A motion was made by Kurt Pfeifle and seconded by Gene Solseth to suspend rules and cast a unanimous ballot for the recommended slate of officers. Motion Carried by unanimous vote

 

Chairman Schroeder appointed Kurt Pfeifle, Bleau LaFave, Kevin Kouba, Terry Larson, and Doug Larson to serve as the primary members of the enforcement panel with all other Board members appointed as alternative members who may serve in the absence of any primary member.

 

A motion was made by Doug Larson and seconded by Todd Chambers that the meeting be adjourned. Motion Carried by unanimous vote