The Metropolitan Emergency Services Board (MESB) was formed by the counties in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area over 30 years ago to manage the 9-1-1 system at the regional level. The counties recognized that telephone company service areas crossed municipal and county boundaries, there was value in sharing resources, and efficiency in having a single, go-to organization when the metropolitan area Telecommunication Service Providers (telephone companies), the 9-1-1 Service Provider (the provider of the 9-1-1 network and location database), the 9-1-1 Communications Centers (the centers that answer 9-1-1 calls), or the State 9-1-1 Program needed help with a metropolitan region 9-1-1 issue.
The MESB, in cooperation with the 9-1-1 Service Provider System Integration Team (System Integration Responsibilities), assists new telecommunications service providers with their integration into the metropolitan region 9-1-1 system, and coordinates all 9-1-1 system testing within the metropolitan region (CLEC Manual). The MESB reviews and offers comments on all metropolitan area CLEC 9-1-1 Plans that are required to be approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission before customer service begins. The 9-1-1 Plan template is available on the State 9-1-1 Program website.
The MESB monitors and enforces telecommunications service provider compliance with the MESB 9-1-1 system network and location database standards, ensuring that 9-1-1 calls get delivered to the correct 9-1-1 communications center with accurate caller information. When a 9-1-1 call is received at an incorrect communications center or the data received contains errors and the communications center reports the issue (ANI/ALI Inquiry Form), the MESB takes the lead in getting the 9-1-1 service provider and the appropriate telecommunications service provider(s) to make the corrections within the time frames specified within the MESB standards and contracts.
The MESB believes that while telecommunications service providers compete to meet their customer\’s communications needs, all metropolitan area customers should have confidence that, regardless of which telecommunications service provider they choose, they will receive the same high level of 9-1-1 emergency service.