FirstNet gets five new board members: Dowd, Fitzgerald not reappointed

In April 2013, Fitzgerald made a series of allegations regarding FirstNet board practices, claiming that the FirstNet board at the time did not operate with appropriate openness and transparency and that some members of the board had a “possible conflict of interest.”

Fitzgerald’s openness and transparency allegations were investigated by an internal committee of FirstNet board members—headed by Webb—and no wrongdoing was found. The conflict-of-interest portion of the investigation was referred to the Inspector General last fall, but no announcement of any findings has been made.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald’s e-mails regarding FirstNet that were sent from his e-mail account in Story County, Iowa—where he serves as sheriff—were the subject of an open-records dispute, when Story County was prepared to release the e-mails in compliance with state open-records law. In July, a federal court ruled that the e-mails are the property of FirstNet—an entity that is exempt from disclosure laws—despite the fact that they resided on a Story County server.

Calls to Fitzgerald were not returned in time to be included in this story.

Dowd, who recently retired from the New York Police Department (NYPD), was one of the earliest and most-outspoken public-safety proponents of broadband connectivity for first responders, and he was a key player in the public-safety lobbying effort that ultimately led to Congress passing legislation that established FirstNet in February 2012. Last month, Dowd cited support from several organizations—including the National Fraternal Order of Police and the Major Cities Chiefs Association—in expressing his desire to be reappointed to the board.

"I'm disappointed about not being reappointed, but the secretary [of Commerce] has the right to make the choices; that's the way the legislation is written," Dowd said today during an interview with IWCE's Urgent Communications. "Chris Burbank is a great guy—I know him pretty well—and I am sure he will do a good job."

Dowd vowed to remain engaged in the effort to bring a nationwide broadband network to public safety.

"I have no intention of going away," Dowd said. "I am going to be involved in this in any way I can. I didn't get into this six years ago to not be involved, so that will continue. In whatever capacity I can contribute, I will contribute.

Today, Charles Ramsey—president of Major Cities Chiefs Association—praised the FirstNet appointments in a release.

“Public-safety agencies will be well served by appointment of law-enforcement officials from the front lines,” Ramsey said in a prepared statement. “Chief Burbank brings a distinguished record of achievement to the FirstNet board, and he will be an articulate voice for all police who rely upon emergency communications to protect the public we are sworn to serve.

“Sheriff Stanek is our partner from the major counties, and we are grateful that he will join the FirstNet board to represent county sheriffs and their deputies across the nation.”

Ramsey also expressed thanks to Dowd for his service.

“Chuck Dowd was a driving force to secure passage of the legislation and establish FirstNet,” Ramsey said in a prepared statement. “What exists today we owe to his many years of hard work and steadfast commitment.”

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) also issued a press release applauding the appointments to the FirstNet board.

“Each of these new members brings a high level of expertise that will be valuable to the deployment of the nationwide public safety broadband network.” APCO President John Wright said in a prepared statement. “APCO appreciates the service of the departing board members who played a formative role in FirstNet’s development.”

“We look forward to working with the newly-constituted board, led by Chairwoman [Sue] Swenson, as well as FirstNet’s dedicated staff to ensure the success of this critical endeavor for public-safety communications. We especially welcome the opportunity to work with Sheriff Stanek and Chief Burbank, who join existing public-safety board members Jeff Johnson and Kevin McGinnis. Their accomplishments and considerable experience will ensure the public-safety community continues to be well represented on the board.”

Jim Pasco, executive director for the National Fraternal Order of Police—the largest police organization in the country, with more than 335,000 members—expressed disappointment that Dowd was not reappointed.

"Our position is that he's still a subject-matter expert that we're going to rely on heavily, whether he's on the board or not."