CITY
ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
CITY
HALL,
TUESDAY,
APRIL 6, 2011
REGULAR
MEETING AGENDA
6:30 P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Barletta were present. No members were absent. Others present were Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Mayor O’Brien, Brian Sauer, Gavin Blair, Eric Vannatta, Lynn Miller, Ed Drobina, Greg Bachman, Chris Schornack, Jeff Hammer, and others.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF March 2, 2011, Regular Meeting. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve; Mr. Barletta seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski abstaining, and Mr. Barletta and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yes.” Motion passed, 2-0.
3. SCHEDULED MATTERS: Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to move Item 5.B., the discussion regarding the Network Guardian proposal to the beginning of the agenda as the Mayor has another commitment tonight and a representative from Meridian Managed Technologies is also present to answer any questions.
Review and discussion regarding
Network guardian Proposal/Agreement. Mr.
Vannatta stated we have done a network assessment for our network system and MT
is the company that provided that for us.
He stated while doing that, MT gave us some recommendations on what we
should follow through with and Mr. Hammer from MT is present to answer any
questions. Mr. Wisniewski stated he was
not sure where this proposed Gold Package would rectify the problems that were
found in the initial assessment. He
stated this seemed like a very basic plan of day-to-day services. Mr. Vannatta stated from conversations with
MT it was indicated that this Gold Plan would cover about 95 percent of the
issues that we had on our assessment.
Mr. Wisniewski clarified that MT is the firm that did the assessment and
no quotations were requested from other sources. Mr. Vannatta stated we have used MT for
several years and we currently have a contract with them at the Police
Department for this same package. Mr.
Vance stated we do have an established relationship with this company, they
have provided support services for our computer operations for quite some
time. He stated we discussed our IT
deficiencies throughout the budget process and the City Manager then asked Mr.
Vannatta to coordinate an audit, and that audit identified weaknesses within
our current operations and we had that same company provide us with solutions
to those weaknesses. He stated due to
the sense of urgency associated with some of the weaknesses that were
identified, it made sense operationally to deal with someone the City has an
established relationship with. Mr. Vance
stated from this point forward, if this Committee and
Mayor O’Brien stated he felt there were some things we would need in order to make an educated decision on moving forward. He stated he would like to see copies of all the IT contracts the city currently has of any type in order to look for duplications or omissions. Mr. Vannatta stated we use CMI for our payroll, finance, utility, court, tax, personnel, and fixed assets. He further stated we have used CMI for over 20 years. Mr. Vannatta stated another company we have is Franklin Information Systems and that is what the building department programs run through as well as some of the recreation department programs. He stated we have an annual fee for that and it is used for telephone support, program upgrades, etc., for that program only.
Mr. Vance stated we are obviously lacking an IT director for the city and if such a position was funded we would have an IT professional on staff who could lead us through the comprehensive review of what we have and provide recommendations as to the direction we need to go in. He stated in lieu of having such a position we have to depend upon contracted resources, and those resources from what he has seen in the short amount of time he has been here, have done a very creditable job on the city’s behalf. Mr. Vance stated staff had to address some of the weaknesses associated with the audit, and had only one place to go as far as the operational status of our system, and that was MT. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that our e-mail is taken care of by Ceranet. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if the $2,500 per month for this Plan would cover the actual software itself to upgrade all the computers or would it strictly be managing, checking, making sure back-ups are running and things like that. Mr. Hammer stated what the City has now is a very reactive system; when something is broken his company is called and they fix it. He stated this would be proactive; they would manage the assets on the ground. He stated, for example, when Microsoft Windows updates are released, some of them are very critical to get installed, and currently you must go around and install them on every PC one at a time, however, with Network Guardian they will be able to manage that and push out updates and give you reports back. He stated you have some issues with your active directory on your server because it is fragmented. He stated with this Plan they would manage that server and they would take care of those issues. Mr. Wisniewski stated his question was if the software that runs on the individual machines, would MT take care of upgrading that or would that be an additional fee the City would have to pay to upgrade to Microsoft Office or Windows 7 or whatever. Mr. Hammer stated this proposal would not take care of the purchase of that software licensing; it would take care of the support of that software. Mr. Wisniewski stated some of the problems that were identified in the security audit were related to old versions of software that is completely hackable, so this $2,500 a month does not cover the actual upgrade of the software. Mr. Hammer stated it did not cover Windows and Office, but you have several versions of Adobe Acrobat on your network, and Network Guardian can push out the installation of the latest version since that is free software.
Mayor O’Brien stated to adequately rate this proposal he would need to see the other contracts we currently have in force to look for duplications and omissions. He stated also mentioned in the proposal is Meridian’s minimum standards document and we would need a copy of that; a copy of their standard operating and escalation procedures document so we will know how the employees will be able to use the call in features. He stated he would like a copy of the actual Network Guardian Gold Plan to review, and also a fee schedule for any charges we may incur outside of this contract. Mayor O’Brien continued the reason for that is he was not sure how the callers who called for assistance would know if it was covered in the contract or not. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt it was obvious that our current hardware and software may not meet the minimum standards and if they do not we should probably get a cost of the expected upgrades. He stated we know what the cost of this contract is, but what would we need to pay to bring everything up to standard so it could be maintained. Mayor O’Brien further questioned what other options we could get from a vendor to bring in-house web hosting, or some other options that may help staff internally for communication purposes. He further stated we would need to know the documented standard for expected turn around times for open tickets so we would know if something would be taken care of within 24-hours, 8 hours, same business day, etc., both remote and on-site. He stated as the police are open 24 hours, would there be an additional charge for after hours calls. Mayor O’Brien stated he would also like to know if there is any limit on the number of tickets and service calls per billing period and what internal processes do we need to establish to ensure that we are doing things right. He questioned if all calls would be funneled through Mr. Vannatta, through the department head, or what would be the process. Mr. Vannatta stated currently he will get the call and he will look at the problem and determine if he can take care of it or he will make a phone call to the help desk and they will remote in and generally get the problem fixed. Mayor O’Brien stated in the assessment it was mentioned about going to options like G-Mail and Open Office, free software, yet that is not mentioned in this proposal and he would like to hear more about that. He further stated we now have a requirement for support for smart phones and to include synchronization and storage of back up data and things like that and that is not in the proposal. He stated we should probably establish an in-house sync policy so that stuff is off the device and into a server that would back up information. He further questioned if support would be provided for non-specified software such as Dream Weaver that is used for web pages. Mr. Hammer stated they could handle Dream Weaver, and they would try to help as far as they could. Mr. Hammer stated if it gets to a point where they cannot take care of it remotely and you need someone in-house they would try to help as far as they can. Mr. Hammer stated this is more of an IT partnership; they would be the City’s IT person. He stated it is not a specific list, they would try to remotely help with the experience they have. He stated you would not be getting just one person, you would be getting a team of people. Mayor O’Brien further stated with new software and new applications, we would require some training and we need to know if the vendor can provide that training. He stated in the proposal Meridian has approval of all of our purchases while under contract, and if we decide to move away to an open office environment or something other than Microsoft applications, can they tell us we cannot do that? He also questioned what the accountability protocols were for loss of data, where do their responsibilities lie? Mayor O’Brien stated we also had a technology review subcommittee that was never officially created and he would like to dissolve that since IT matters are being handled by this committee. Mr. Wisniewski stated he concurred with that.
Mr. Wisniewski
questioned exactly what the minimum standards to support the services under
client obligations were because that is a pretty broad term as to what that
covers. He further questioned what the
remote monitoring software that was being installed and how would we know that
is secure, and the fact that the software will permit
Mr. Wisniewski stated at this time he would return to the agenda.
A. Review
and request for motion to approve draft resolution re-appointing Mitzi Dunn to
the Personnel Appeals Board. Mr.
Wisniewski clarified that Ms Dunn was filling an unexpired term and has
expressed a desire to serve a complete term on the Personnel Appeals
Board. Mrs. Hammond moved to approve and forward to
Mrs. Yartin stated she currently has an advertisement for applicants for the vacancy on the Tree & Beautification Commission on the web site and if no applications are received then she will place an ad in the local paper.
4. HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT.
A. Human Resource Director’s Report. Mrs. Miller stated she had provided a written report to the Committee and she would answer any questions. Mrs. Miller stated she had nothing to add to her report, but would be happy to answer any questions.
(1) Discussion on Council Employee Evaluation process. No discussion.
5. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
A. Facility Operations Administrator Report. Mr. Wisniewski stated the Committee had received a written report from Mr. Vannatta.
B. Review and discussion regarding Network Guardian Proposal/Agreement. Mr. Wisniewski stated this was covered earlier in the meeting.
6. CHAIRMAN:
A. Strategic Plan Goals – Update. Mr. Wisniewski stated he had no update this evening.
7. OTHER BUSINESS: No other business was brought forward.
8. MOTIONS: There were no motions.
9. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion. Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mrs. Hammond voted "Aye." Motion carried, 3-0. The City Administration Committee adjourned at 7:05 P.M, April 6, 2011.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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