Lee announces candidacy for APCO International 2nd VP

APCO Chapter President and Executive Council Representative,

Please allow me this opportunity to let you know that I have decided to run for the office of 2nd Vice President of APCO Int’l for the 2012-2013 year. As we all discovered at this year’s conference, there is a need for well qualified individuals to step forward and put themselves in a position to represent our association. I did so by presenting my name for the vacant position this year which President Riddle appointed Gigi Smith to fill. I have been a member of APCO Int’l for 17 years and am a life member. I also have been the Executive Council representative for the Nevada Chapter for the last five years and have held a number of offices within the Nevada Chapter. I am privileged to be the Co-Chair of the APCO/NENA National Joint TERT Initiative (NJTI) which is the only officially recognized project between the two associations. As such I have had the opportunity to represent our association at many venues promoting the initiative. Additionally, I was the Chairman for APCO Project 42.

Although retired from the Sparks Nevada Police Department I have remained active within the association. I started a thirty year career as a dispatcher and later on, supervised the communications center for my department. Additionally I was responsible for all of the communications aspects of the department which included m anaging the radio, 9-1-1, and mobile computer systems. The last ten years of my career I sat on and was chairman of the Washoe County 9-1-1 board which was responsible for dissemination of surcharge funds to the local PSAP’s in Washoe County, Nevada. I have continued to remain passionate about the association and how it represents all aspects of the communications field.

APCO Int’l has seen many changes recently. Thanks to the “D Block” initiative we now have a voice and representation in congress. As such, I believe we need to take advantage of that voice and upon completion of the “D Block” take the opportunity to further other causes through congressional means. There are a number of those needs such as a national training standard, recognition of telecommunicators as 9-1-1 professionals (rather than clerical workers) and first responders as was so well identified in P roChart. Our AFC section continues to re-establish itself as a leader in frequency coordination and hopefully will have even more activity in the future.

I am seeking your Chapter’s support in this endeavor. Within the next few months I plan on personally contacting as many of you as possible.

Respectfully,

W. Brent Lee
Nevada Chapter