APCO Staff Spotlight

Steve Makky, AFC Staff Engineer
Steve Makky grew up in Bergen County, N.J., where volunteering on a local ambulance squad in high school opened the door to becoming a New York City and Jersey City paramedic in his early 20s. He spent 15 years on the Cliffside Park Fire Department and served as its volunteer fire chief. He was also an officer in the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department. Concurrently, he worked as an electronics technician in both the private and public sector, as well as paging, IMTS mobile telephone, "air-to-ground," maritime public coast and AMSP cellular telephone.

In 1996, he moved to Missouri to become the Director of Technical Services for a consortium of fire and EMS agencies in a St. Louis suburb, responsible for the technical systems of a centralized fire and ambulance dispatch center. He later went on to become the County Communications Officer and E9-1-1 coordinator in St. Charles County, MO, responsible for county’s communications and public warning systems and E9-1-1 systems for six primary law enforcement PSAPs, one secondary fire/EMS PSAP and a disaster recovery PSAP. There, he teamed with AT&T and TelControl Inc. (TCI) to implement the first VoIP-based E9-1-1 system in the state.

Makky was the co-chair of the St. Louis UASI Interoperable Communications Committee and successfully received funding to build a bi-state region-wide OC-3 microwave network which would go on to become the cornerstone of a region-wide P25 trunked radio network spanning eight counties in Missouri and Illinois. He also served as the Missouri APCO chapter’s vice president in the late 90s. Previously, he was a member of the Atlantic Chapter and participated in APCO’s emergency management and spectrum management committees, and as a Missouri APCO Local Advisor. He also participated in the initial development of the TERT program.

Following 9/11, he deployed to the World Trade Center attack with members of the MO-1 DMAT team and served as an intermittently appointed GS-0391 Telecommunications Specialist supporting the USPHS and National Disaster Medical System management support team.

Makky is an officer in the Civil Air Patrol. His current grade is O-4 (Major), with a Master rating in Communications, and Technician ratings in Information Technology and Inspector General, and has attended CAP’s National Inspector General College. He is the director of communications of Florida Wing’s Group II, and is responsible for the overall communications program for 22 subordinate units in northeastern Florida, along with infrastructure maintenance, keeping the Wing’s HF and VHF P25 network functioning. He is also an Assistant Inspector General.

Steve Makky holds an FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License with RADAR endorsement along with other FCC licenses including an Amateur Extra Class license, and is a FEMA Type III COM-L. He is graduate of the New York City EMS Academy, Bellevue Hospital Center paramedic class #3, and has Firefighter I, II, III, and Fire Officer I certifications from the Bergen County Police and Fire Academy. He holds undergraduate certificates from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Public Service Administration, and from Jacksonville State University/APCO Virtual College in Public Safety Telecommunications. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University Wisconsin, a master’s degree from Lindenwood University, and is "all but dissertation" in public safety leadership from Capella University. He is currently working toward a second bachelor’s degree in Information Technology at Daytona State College. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, the IEEE Communications Society, a member of the Radio Club of America and the Association of Old Crows. He is also an Air Force MARS operator.

He lives in Ormond Beach with his wife, Susan, a former public safety telecommunicator, his daughter Caitlyn, of Volusia County EMS, his son Steven Jr., an apprentice electrician in IBEW Local 756, his son Robert, a college student, and his daughter Carol, a high school student.

He is currently employed as a staff engineer in AFC, is the trustee of APCO’s K4AI amateur radio license and represents APCO’s membership on the NFPA’s Electronic Safety Equipment Committee.