St.John's Regional Fire Department Supports Province Wide 911 Service

Through the St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJRFD), the City of St. John’s provides quality and reliable 911 service to residents of the northeast Avalon.  The 911 service in the St. John’s region is among the best in the country, and meets all standard requirements for a Public Safety Answering Point, as set by the National Fire Protection Association.
 
Upon the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s announcement for expansion to province wide 911 service, the SJRFD agreed to cooperate with government to expand service to the remainder of the Avalon Peninsula, pending a mutually agreeable contract. The SJRFD has been instrumental, working with the NL 911 Bureau on the development and progress of province wide 911, including assisting with information technology set up, and staff training for a new Public Safety Answering Point in Corner Brook.
 
“We do not dispute the fact that under The Emergency 911 Act, ultimate authority for the operation of province wide 911 service rests with the NL 911 Bureau,” said Dennis O’Keefe, Mayor of the City of St. John’s, in response to the recent statement made by the Honourable Judy Manning. “The SJRFD was asked by the Province to take on the role of Public Safety Answering Point for the Avalon region, and we are agreeable to assuming this role under the condition that we maintain control of the operating budget and intellectual property ownership. In response to the concerns expressed by the province we have suggested alternative methods of dispute resolution regarding our budget.”
 
The City has the legal right to maintain ownership of the 911 operating budget, proprietary systems, associated query tools, and all other intellectual property generated through the operation of 911 service. Please see the attached backgrounder for additional information.
 
“We fully support the expansion of Basic 911 service, however the SJRFD is not prepared to enter into a contractual relationship that could expose citizens of St. John’s, Mount Pearl and Paradise, to potential funding shortfalls,” said Mayor O’Keefe. “Under no circumstances will our residents be exposed to subsidizing the provincial 911 service, and this is a major concern.”
 
The SJRFD has and continues to support the provincial government to expand 911 service to all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.  City officials will provide the assistance necessary should the provincial government decide to transition to an alternative Public Safety Answering Point.
 
Media Contact:
Kelly Maguire
Media Relations
City of St. John's
709-576-8491
kmaguire@stjohns.ca 
 
BACKGROUNDER: Intellectual Property Ownership – 911 Public Safety Answering Point Negotiations
 
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property refers to the legal rights to ideas, inventions and creations in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. It also covers symbols, names, images, designs and models used in business.
 
Intellectual Property – Current Contract Negotiations between the City and the Province
Intellectual property ownership refers to the ownership of the operating and business application software which forms the backbone of the computer-based 911 dispatch system, the ancillary report generators and data reports generated from data contained in the 911 dispatch system, and all GIS civic address and mapping databases contained within the system.
 
Intellectual Property Ownership – City’s Position
In order to add clarity to the definition of intellectual property ownership to be contained within the proposed contract, the City put forward the following position for discussion:
 

1. The City holds the license to the FDM software including all modules, built in report generators, query tools, upgrade patches, etc. The City will not assign the license to the 911 Bureau.
2. The City holds the licenses to the RDMS (MSSQL Server) and will not assign the licenses to the 911 Bureau.
3. The City owns all the supporting backbone infrastructure, hardware and software and will not assign any intellectual property rights or ownership of this infrastructure, hardware or software to the 911 Bureau.
4. From time to time, the City may, for its own internal purposes, assign a Business Analyst to develop a specific report generator using Crystal Reports or SQL Server Report Builder. The report generator will remain the intellectual property of the City.
5. Should the 911 Bureau request the City to build a specific report for the Bureau’s own purposes, the City will do so and charge the 911 Bureau for the report generator development on the basis of the City’s time and material costs. The report generator, upon receipt of payment, will be the intellectual property of the 911 Bureau.
6. The GIS referenced address database within the dispatch module of FDM will remain the intellectual property of the City. Upon termination of the contract, the City agrees to provide a copy of the database to the 911 Bureau wherein it shall become the intellectual property of the 911 Bureau.
7. All data reports generated on a daily/weekly/monthly/annual basis for the information purposes of the 911 Bureau will, upon receipt by the Bureau, become the intellectual property of the 911 Bureau. The 911 Bureau will agree to set up a secure file server into which the City will electronically transfer the reports on a schedule determined by the 911 Bureau.
8. The City will retain any and all other intellectual property rights. 
    

Intellectual Property Ownership – Province’s Position
The Province has stated that its concern is having ownership of the reports and data that the City is required to submit under the agreement while completing the “Work”. In NL’s consultant agreements, such deliverables are always the property of the Client paying for the service. As the stated in items 6 and 7 above, the City has stated that is agreeable to this position, however, the Province has not provided the City with a formal notice that it is prepared to continue with the negotiations on this basis.