Town Technology Committee Meeting Minutes, May 25, 2010

Posted on: 5/31/2010
Date of Minutes: 
05/25/2010

Rhinebeck Technology Committee Meeting Minutes

 

May 25th, 2010

 

 

In attendance

 

Joe Ely

Gina Fox

Dave Kliphon

Joe Kupiec

 

 

Agenda items, as addressed:

 

 

  1. ZBA Computer

 

Summary:

    • The ZBA was questioning whether to get replace a CPU or work off a central server
    • Team recommends ZBA continue purchasing a new PC or CPU

 

Actions:

    • Gina will take recommendation to the ZBA

 

 

Team welcomed Gina Fox to the first Tech Committee meeting since she joined the Town Board.

 

Gina introduced a discussion item prior to the defined agenda, relating the Zoning Board of Appeal.  The ZBA was requesting a replacement to their computer’s CPU, and there was interest in knowing whether leveraging a central server instead of purchasing a new standalone computer would be best.

 

The team’s initial reaction was to recommend that the department continue procuring a new workstation PC or CPU.  Not only would a client-server configuration require research, time and money, but a more appropriate network architecture would be the implementation of centralized document management via cloud computing, a topic the committee was currently reviewing.

 

 

 

  1. Policies and Recommendations

 

Summary:

    • Five Tech Committee policy, recommendation and plan documents were reviewed

 

Actions:

    • Gina will begin dialogue with Town Board to require representatives to use Town email
    • Gina will make Board aware of the IT Policy; adoption will not be initially required
    • Gina will present the IT Password Policy for immediate adoption
    • Dave will edit and format the Committee recommendations, then forward to Gina

 

 

Note that the Policies and Recommendations and the Email Hosting topics were described and discussed simultaneously.

 

The team presented and described the committee’s collection of policies and recommendations to Gina.  Since no response had come from the Board and the Town lawyer in the past, and given the fact that Gina was new to the committee, the objective of the presentation was to start fresh.

 

Electronic Systems Acceptable Use Policy  (IT Policy)

 

Defines appropriate use of Town Systems and Electronic Communications as well as policies related to security, data ownership, intellectual property, FOIL compliance and related systems.  The committee liaison had presented the policy to the Town lawyer several times, but no action followed.  Gina recommended taking the policy directly to the Board for discussion and ultimate approval. 

 

Following a discussion about Town/Village email accounts and usage, it was determined that the immediately goal was to first get all representatives to use their mailboxes for incoming/outgoing mail.  Once this was completed, then the policy could be formally adopted.  Gina also stated that she would initiate the dialogue with the Town Board regarding email usage.  Therefore the sequence of actions would be to first propose, enact and enforce usage of email accounts, then adopt the IT Policy.

 

 

Electronic Systems Password Policy

 

The goal of the Electronic Systems Password Policy is to require Town of Rhinebeck representatives to define and utilize strong passwords in order to protect content.  The policy was presented to Gina with the explanation that the rules were drawn from other well-established sources.

 

The team agreed that there was no reason to slow the adoption of this policy, and Gina proposed taking the policy directly to the board for discussion and acceptance.  Its approval is not dependent on mailbox usage or IT Policy adoption. 

 

 

Town/Village Mail Hosting Recommendation

 

The committee has assembled a summary of its research into improved mail hosting, and a recommendation of how the board should proceed.  A key issue is the failure of typical web hosting to capture outgoing email.

 

Dave briefly summarized to Gina the key options that were considered and researched during the topic effort.  The recommendation is to subscribe to an online mail host service specializing in full mail control (mail capture, archiving and search).  It was made clear that the recommendation was not an initial priority and did not require immediate board review.

 

Dave will edit and format the recommendation for better presentation, then deliver to Gina.

 

 

Town/Village Technical Inventory Recommendation

 

The committee has assembled a summary of its attempts to inventory Town/Village technical system, and generated a recommendation of how the board should proceed.  The recommendation focused on centralized purchasing and funding of such an inventory.

 

Again Dave briefly summarized to Gina the key options that were considered and researched during the topic effort.  Gina explained that the Town is currently undergoing its own inventory process, and the possibility of bundling the tech inventory into the process was considered.  The likelihood that the inventory would focus on the level of detail required for a complete inventory was low, and therefore the recommendation for a self-initiated audit was supported.

 

The committee had recommended to the liaison in the past that a self-initiated and self-funded technical audit be considered, particularly after recent State auditing activity in a local municipality.  The committee still supports this approach, but the recommendation is not being pressed at the moment.  The topic will remain on the agenda for continual reconsideration.

 

It was made clear that the recommendation was not an initial priority and did not require immediate board review.  Dave will edit and format the recommendation for better presentation, then deliver to Gina.

 

 

Rhinebeck Town Technology Committee Five Year Plan

 

Gina was also presented with the committee’s Five Year Plan, which identifies and prioritized the topics and efforts that the team has chosen to undertake.  It was made clear that the first topics have been addressed and/or recommendations made.

 

Cloud Computing, one of the highere priority five year plan topics, was explained during other policy and recommendation discussions.  Gina was made aware that the committee was evaluation Google Apps for the centralization of Town documents, and reviewing Google Postini Services as a potential means of securing and archiving email.

 

Gina needed to leave the committee meeting following the Five-Year Plan discussion.

 

 

 

  1. Email Hosting

 

Summary:

    • Gina was made aware of current email hosting shortcomings

 

Actions:

    • The team will continue researching Google Apps and Postini services

 

 

This topic was assessed during the Policies and Recommendations agenda item.

 

To review, it was made clear to Gina that the current host was not capable of capturing outgoing email.  Making matters worse, many users were not using available Town/Village email accounts.  Once established, mailbox users would need to be required to respond to email using the same mailboxes, not forwarding mail to personal accounts and then responding.

 

It was explained to Gina that as a result the team is evaluating Google Apps for its mail server capabilities, and Google Postini services for security, archiving and searching (e-discovery) features.

 

The team will continue researching and evaluating, continuing the topic discussion via email.

 

 

 

  1. Cloud Computing

 

Summary:

    • Google Apps is still being researched as cloud computing solution
    • Town and Village should be aware of the research process and opportunities

 

Actions:

    • Dave will update document content and continue migrating “operations” to Google Apps
    • Dave and Team will continue Google Apps research, communicating via email
    • Dave will attempt to move distribution list to Town mailbox and Gmail
    • Dave will resend Google Apps account to members

 

 

Gina was made aware of the Cloud Computing topic research during the Policies and Recommendations agenda item.  Initial response was positive, and the effort to understand the opportunities offered by Google Apps will continue.

 

Dave will continue to organize the online documents and evaluate application prospects.  An initial goal for the Committee to switch its document and content management to Google Apps will continue to be pursued, including the switch to a Town email mailbox and a mail distribution list using the Gmail client.  The team will be engaged via email, and will help to assess and test the available applications

 

No other progress was made on the Google Apps research front.  Dave will resend account credentials to users.

 

 

 

  1. Change Management Procedure Policy

 

Summary:

    • No further work on Change Management Policy

 

Actions:

    • Dave will complete policy content
    • Dave will adjust the format of to match Committee policy template

 

 

Dave reported that no further work had been done on the Change Management Policy.  Attention will hopefully be given to the policy’s improvement in the near future.

 

In addition to content, the format will be revised to reflect the IT Policy and Password convention.

 

 

 

  1. ZBA Notifications; ZEO Document Organization

 

Summary:

    • Paul (via email) confirmed the ZBA Notifications solution was successful
    • No further status on ZEO Document Organization was available

 

Actions:

    • Dave will email Paul and request ZEO status, and potentially remove topic from agenda

 

 

Paul was not in attendance, but was able to report that his ZBA Notifications fix was successful, noting that “the ZBA/Planning board label process has been deemed working by Diana Hobson (she creates the labels)”.  The topic will be removed from the next agenda.

 

The team briefly discussed the ZEO Document Organization topic, and it was clarified that Paul had initiated and documented a procedure in the past.  No further action had been taken to confirm its implementation.  Dave will email Paul to see if there are any updates.  The topic will be considered for removal from the agenda.

 

 

 

  1. Miscellaneous

 

Summary:

    • Responses never received for financial report printing and GIS inventory requests
    • Town Credit Card Payment recommendation sent months ago

 

Actions:

    • Financial report PDF printing will be reviewed again at a later time
    • Payment and GIS topics will be removed from agenda
    • RFP for IT Audit topic will remain until right time for recommendation

 

 

“Printing” Financial Reports

 

Shelly had not responded to an email regarding the recommendation the installation of a PDF print driver so financial reports can be “printed” into Adobe PDF format.  These documents would then be ready for uploading to the website.  Discussion with the liaison is recommended; the topic will remain on the agenda for later discussion, or an email will be sent resurrecting the topic during the interim between meetings.

 

 

Town Credit Card Payments

 

Months ago Kathy Kinsella had emailed the Web Committee regarding the possibility of using credit cards for registration purposes.  The team advice regarding the use of credit cards for registrations was sent to Kathy several months ago as well.  The topic will be removed.

 

 

GIS ArcMap/ArcView

 

Bruce did not respond to emails requesting information on the GIS ArcMap/ArcView purchase made in December.  It is assumed that the information will be collected during current Town inventory process.  The topic will be removed.

 

 

RFP for IT Audit

 

A self-audit by the Town and/or Village could result in a Tech Inventory being performed.  The “RFP for IT Audit” topic is being kept on the agenda until an appropriate time for recommendation.

 

 

 

  1. New Chair, Committee Future

 

Summary:

    • Dave will remain committee chair

 

Actions:

    • Dave will drive committee topics via email
    • Team will conduct more committee business via email
    • Team will call meetings on an ad hoc basis

 

 

Dave again attempted to resign from the Tech Committee char position, identifying past success with committee organization but the need for leadership implementing committee recommendations.  Joe highlighted the fact that the committee’s role was advisory, and not action-based.  The team agreed that with the Comprehensive Plan adoption out of the way, the opportunity to drive committee recommendations exists.  As liaison, Gina will present Tech Committee policies and recommendations to the Town Board and initiate board action.  The Tech Committee will continue to support.

 

Since topics can be driven via email communication, meetings will be called on an ad hoc basis.  Dave will therefore manage topic facilitation through email correspondence, and the team is expected to provide attention and assistance. 

 

As a result of the adjustments to the team’s operations, and with a bonus of a peanut butter cup, Dave agreed to remain committee chair for now.

 


 

 

Next Meeting

 

TBD, 2010 at 7:00 pm.