Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 911 licenses revoked

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 13:28:34 -0500

911 licenses revoked
 
By SUSAN EVANS
THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT
(Johnstown, PA) 

December 29, 2002 
 
EBENSBURG – A federal agency has revoked Cambria County’s 911 radio dispatch licenses, and
emergency management officials now are scrambling to get them back.

Three wireless licenses for emergency radio communications expired last summer and were
not renewed.
They since have been canceled by Federal Communications Commission, the federal agency
that regulates broadcasting, The Tribune-Democrat has learned.

The county commissioners first learned of the problem when called by a reporter yesterday,
and they ordered 911 officials to check all licenses and get them back. The county’s
emergency services director, Michael Hoover, found out about the canceled licenses from a
radio equipment salesman Dec. 20, but did not tell his bosses. “We’ll be taking care of
the situation,” Hoover said in a telephone interview from the 911 center in Ebensburg.

FCC officials said that if the county applies for reinstatement, they will not shut down
the day-to-day 911 operations.

Other licenses registered to Cambria County, such as radios for the sheriff’s department
and for maintenance workers, are current. Similar licenses in Somerset and Bedford county
also are up to date.
Hoover said that the FCC did not send renewal reminders for the 911 licenses, and
therefore no one was aware of the deadline. But FCC officials in Washington countered the
agency’s standard procedure is to send a renewal reminder. FCC records show that reminders
were sent for each of the three licenses at least two months before the expiration dates,
an agency spokeswoman said in a telephone interview.
Hoover said that if reminders were sent, they would have gone to the county courthouse,
but did not reach the 911 center in the former PMC building that houses county offices on
Route 22. But FCC records show that the reminder letters were sent to the proper address
on Candlelight Drive in Ebensburg.
Hoover said he didn’t report the problem immediately because he was hoping to keep it
quiet for a few weeks. “Our concern with publicity is that someone could beat us to the
punch and apply for these frequencies,” he said. “We’re getting the licenses renewed, but
we have to keep this quiet for a while.”

The expired licenses are listed on the FCC’s Web site, which is available for public
scrutiny.
Hoover said he was alerted to the situation Dec. 20 by a Motorola salesman in Altoona, who
serves as the county’s vendor for its 911 radio equipment. “The salesman said that we
needed to do this renewal, and he gave us guidance,” he said. When asked how 911 officials
could have been unaware that three licenses were expiring, Hoover replied, “It happens.”
“I don’t remember seeing any notices,” he said. “It’s no big deal. We’re taking care of
the situation. It should be taken care of shortly.”

Bedford County’s 911 director said it’s not hard to understand how a license renewal can
be missed.
Bedford 911 Director Dan Datesman pointed to Huntingdon County, where a couple of years
ago emergency management officials failed to apply for a license renewal. “It’s like a
driver’s license. They don’t shut you down or anything,” he said in a telephone interview
from his office. “It’s a housekeeping thing and you slip up sometimes,” Datesman added.

Somerset County’s wireless licenses for emergency radio communications are current through
Sept. 23 of next year, officials said. The county also filed an updated plan with the FCC
when dispatchers moved into the new 911 center in June, county officials said.

Cambria County’s mistake caused some red faces in the courthouse, Chief Clerk Michael
Gelles said.
“This was news to the commissioners, and they sent the 911 people scrambling to look at
the whole list,” he said. “We first learned of this when you called,” President
Commissioner Fred L. Soisson said. “We’ve ordered Mr. Hoover to reapply for the licenses,
and the Altoona vendor will handle it.”

FCC spokeswoman Lauren Kravetz Patrich said that standard agency practice is to send
renewal reminders.
If renewals are not received within 90 days, the licenses are canceled. The renewal
process is relatively simple, and forms are available on the Internet, she said in a
telephone interview from her Washington office. Once expired, licenses often are
reinstated, records show.
“Typically, if someone files within 30 days of expiration, it’s simple,” she said. “But
six months later, it may be more difficult.” The three licenses expired July 13, July 14
and Aug. 5, the FCC database shows.
There will be fees, possibly several hundred dollars per license, but specifics were not
immediately available.

Licenses usually are for five- or 10-year terms, she said.

FCC administers 3.5 million radio licenses covering at least 50 radio services, such as
cellular and microwave.

The fact that a license has expired doesn’t automatically shut down an operator, but
Patrich said if someone is operating without a license, the FCC normally receives a
complaint and then investigates.

Staff writers Kathy Mellott and Mike Faher contributed to this report. 

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6534441&BRD=2332&PAG=461&dept_id=484742&rfi=6

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