By Laura DeKoven Waxman
September 17, 2012

Following the Commerce Department’s August 20 announcement that former Conference of Mayors President Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and New York Police Department Deputy Chief Charles Dowd had been appointed to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Board of Directors, Conference of Mayors President Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter said, “America’s mayors commend the Obama Administration for making sure that cities and their public safety communications needs will be well represented on the national board responsible for overseeing the planning, development, maintenance and operation of the nationwide wireless public safety communications network.”

“By appointing one of our own, former Denver Mayor and U.S. Conference of Mayors President Wellington Webb, the Administration has recognized the important contribution which an experienced and successful mayor can bring to the work of this Board,” Nutter commented. “Wellington Webb has been a role model for mayors across this country, both for the work he did in Denver and for the national leadership he provided. Of particular importance are his understanding of what it takes to make our cities safe and the many contributions he made to public safety – in his city and in the nation as a whole. He was a key leader in the Conference [of Mayors] efforts to shape federal policies and programs that reduced crime and violence in our cities.”

“The Conference of Mayors has always been committed to making sure that mayors’ interests and concerns are well represented in the federal government,” commented Conference of Mayors Executive Director and CEO Tom Cochran. “Wellington Webb was a great mayor of Denver and a great President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. He will be a great member of the FirstNet Board and a great representative of the mayors of this nation,” Cochran continued.

“As chair of our task force on crime, Wellington Webb led our efforts with the Clinton Administration to craft the 1994 crime bill and see it enacted into law,” Cochran noted. “Among other things, that bill established the COPS Program which continues to provide vital assistance to cities today.”

Nutter also praised the appointment Charles Dowd to the Board. “By appointing New York Police Department Deputy Chief Charles Dowd, who serves as Commanding Officer of the Communications Division, the Administration has included on the FirstNet Board one of the nation’s foremost experts in first-responder communications. In command of New York City’s emergency call center on September 11, 2001, Chief Dowd brings unique perspective from our nation’s largest city to the Board,” Nutter said.

The 15-member FirstNet Board of Directors was authorized through the public safety broadband communications provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which was signed by the President on February 22. The law focuses on the reallocation of critical spectrum – the so-called D Block of the 700 MHz – to public safety and funding for the development, maintenance and operation of the network.

Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank named telecommunications executive Samuel “Sam” Ginn to Chair the Board. Federal officials serving on it are the Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Other non-federal appointees are:

• Tim Bryan, CEO, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative

• F. Craig Farrill, Wireless telecommunications executive

• Paul Fitzgerald, Sheriff, Story County, Iowa

• Jeffrey Johnson, Fire Chief (retired); former Chair, State Interoperability Council, State of Oregon; CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association

• William Keever, Telecommunications executive (retired)

• Kevin McGinnis, Chief/CEO, North East Mobile Health Services

• Ed Reynolds, Telecommunications executive (retired)

• Susan Swenson, Telecommunications/technology executive

• Teri Takai, Government information technology expert; former CIO, states of Michigan and California.