Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Re: Amendment of Section 90.20 and 90.175 of the Commission's Rules (WT Docket No. 02-285)

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 21:11:27 -0500

February 03, 2003
Marlene Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
Office of the Secretary
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554

Re: Amendment of Section 90.20 and 90.175 of the Commission's Rules for
Frequency Coordination of Public Safety Frequencies in the Private
Land Mobile Radio Below 470 MHz; WT Docket No. 02-285;

EX PARTE COMMUNICATION

Dear Ms. Dortch:

On behalf of the International Municipal Signal Association and the International
Association of Fire Chiefs, Inc., (“IMSA/IAFC”), we respectfully submit the following
comments regarding the letter from Deborah Tomlin of Commonwealth Communications dated
January 21, 2003 submitted to the Commission in the above-captioned proceeding. In that
letter,
Ms. Tomlin describes a singular experience in attempting to obtain a frequency
coordination
from IMSA/IAFC. Ms. Tomlin does not identify the applicant by name, or provide the IMSA or

FCC identification numbers related to the application; accordingly, IMSA/IAFC cannot speak
to
the specifics of the transaction involved. Nonetheless, it is believed that a discussion
of the
frequency coordination procedures utilized would be of assistance in placing the letter
from Ms.
Tomlin in proper perspective.

It appears that Ms. Tomlin’s customer was a private ambulance service seeking a repeater
pair of frequencies for an entity in Kentucky. IMSA/IAFC’s observations with regard to the

circumstances described by Ms. Tomlin are, as follows:

As an initial matter, Ms. Tomlin states that she started with ITA, but was referred
to a Public Safety coordinator. For a private ambulance company seeking
frequencies for a repeater operation rather than, for example, the “MED”
channels, IMSA/IAFC fail to understand why this coordination request was
referred to a Public Safety coordinator, rather than being accommodated in the
Industrial/Business Radio Pool.

Ms. Tomlin states that “Before giving IMSA the applications, I was told that a
FAA form would need to be submitted.” The requirement that applicants provide
the tower identification number is well publicized and should be known to any

land mobile radio dealership. Neither the requirement for, nor delay in securing,
the antenna clearance was the responsibility of IMSA/IAFC.

Ms. Tomlin states that after the application was submitted to IMSA, “Four months
pass with no progress . . . .” This allegation is baffling to IMSA/IAFC; and as
noted above, without specific applicant information, the coordination records
cannot be consulted to identify the course of handling of the application. It is the
policy of IMSA/IAFC to observe the Commission’s speed-of-service standards,
and IMSA/IAFC generally is viewed as being one of the most prompt, efficient
and responsive coordinators by the user community. Customarily, all deficiencies
are noted in one request for additional information. The following may have
impacted upon the handling of this particular application:
whether all necessary information was submitted with the request for
coordination (obviously not, since Ms. Tomlin did not provide the FRN
for the applicant, a requirement which well should have been known to
any party engaged in land mobile radio sales and licensing);
whether any request by IMSA/IAFC for additional information was
answered completely, or only in part, the latter necessitating follow-up
request(s);whether the applicable fee was paid with the request for coordination; and
whether Ms. Tomlin provided an e- mail address for contact, or whether all
communication had to be handled via mail.

Regarding proof of applicant eligibility, Section 90.20(a)(2)(iii)(C) and (xiii) of the
Commission’s rules provide eligibility in the Public Safety Pool for non-government
entities, specifically including ambulance companies “regularly engaged in providing
medical ambulance services” (as contrasted with non-medical, transport services), subject
to: “Applications submitted by persons or organizations (governmental or otherwise)
other than the governmental body having jurisdiction over the state’s emergency medical
services plans, must be accompanied by a statement prepared by the government body
having jurisdiction over the state’s emergency medical services plan indicating that the
applicant is included in the state’s emergency plan or otherwise supporting the
application.” Again, this is a basic application requirement, and should have been
included with the original application.

Concerning the identification of the Kentucky official responsible for providing the
statement of support, IMSA/IAFC receives said information from the National
Association of State Emergency Medical Service Directors. There was a vacancy in that
position in Kentucky for several years. Under these circumstances, IMSA/IAFC directs
applicants to the appropriate state office. Whether or not the individual in the office
contacted by Ms. Tomlin was requested to, and did, provide the necessary and
appropriate information, or submitted a statement that did not satisfy the Commission’s
rules, is unknown without further application identification.

Regarding the intra-service coordination (through AASHTO), the VHF band in Kentucky
is extremely congested. Depending upon the location, antenna height and power
requested by the applicant, IMSA/IAFC may have been required to find an appropriate
channel from among those specified for use by a subset of the Public Safety community
for which IMSA/IAFC does not have frequency coordination authority. 1

It was quite upsetting to me that though we were granted the frequencies, my office was
not notified of the granting of the frequencies.” Neither Ms. Tomlin nor her company in
fact “were granted the frequencies.” Rather, it was the applicant that was granted a
license to operate on the authorized frequencies. Again, had Ms. Tomlin provided an e-mail
address upon submitting the application for processing by IMSA/IAFC, she would have
received notification following IMSA/IAFC’s receipt of information of the grant of the
subject application.

The situation described by Ms. Tomlin is unfortunate. In all likelihood, however, full
familiarity with the Commission’s rules and attention to the information required to be
supplied by an applicant when seeking frequency coordination could have avoided much of
the delay and problems described.Your attention to the foregoing is very much appreciated.

Very truly yours,
/s/ Martin W. Bercovici
Martin W. Bercovici
Attorney for International Municipal Signal
Association and International Association of
Fire Chiefs, Inc.

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From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 21:11:51 -0500

February 03, 2003

EX PARTE COMMUNICATION

Dear Ms. Dortch:

Very truly yours,
/s/ Martin W. Bercovici
Martin W. Bercovici

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6513406622