Marion County Metropolitan Emergency Communications Agency
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The Marion County Metropolitan Emergency Communications Agency (or MECA) is the governing body of the Consolidated City of Indianapolis and Marion County public safety communications systems and computer facilities district (Ref Special Ordinance No.7, 1999 & IC 36-8-15).
[edit] Governance
MECA is a County Agency that is governed by a five member Board of Directors. Members are: the Mayor of Indianapolis, the Marion County Sheriff, the Health & Hospital Corporation, a member selected by the Township Trustees and a member selected by the Excluded Cities within Marion County. The Board employs a Director to oversee and administer all aspects of operations and planning recommendations. The Director is supported by a staff funded through an annual budget approved by the Board, the City County Council’s approval and appropriation, approval by the Mayor in his capacity of Chief County Executive, and approvals by appropriate state review boards.
[edit] Background
Various Marion County public safety agencies had been seeking the ability to communicate with each other by radio for many years. Different frequency ranges of radio spectrum were used by various public safety agencies. The different spectrum was a significant problem to allow inter-communications between Public Safety agencies. This usage pattern complicated local efforts to reach this desired level of joint communication. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated new spectrum in the 800MHz range for public safety radio communications use. About this time, an accident occurred involving an aircraft striking a hotel near the Indianapolis International Airport that resulted in property destruction through impact and fire together with several human deaths. Over fifty agencies responded to this event known as the “Ramada Inn Crash”. Few of these agencies could communicate with each other by radio. The agencies operated using different radio frequencies. The initial result was that within Marion County, the police agencies, the various fire departments, the ambulance providers and others came together having a common aim to achieve inter-communications capability. The ultimate result for Marion County was the creation of MECA. The basic MECA radio system was trunked and used the 800 MHz frequency spectrum. Soon thereafter, public service groups [e.g. the Department of Transportation (DoT), the Department of Public Works (DPW), the Parks Department (DPR), the Health & Hospital Corporation (H&H), the Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IPTC or IndyGo), the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS)] were included in the overall scope of services provided through the authority of MECA. Some emergency responses require barricades (DoT) and others require other equipment used in the normal course of business by a Public Service group (e.g., tree saws). Moreover, inter-governmental agreements extended communication inter-operability to parts of surrounding counties. Efforts to coordinate radio communications with the State Police occurred. Public safety communications inter-operability had begun in central Indiana in the late 1980s. MECA was funded for capital investment by a revenue bond funded by county property taxes. Operations were funded from the County Option Income Tax (COIT) at a two million dollar level.
