Technology Task Force Regular Meeting June 2, 2014

Meeting date: 
Monday, June 2, 2014

Simsbury Technology Task Force
June 2, 2014 Meeting Minutes

Attendees: Rick Bazzano, Tom Cooke, Mike Doyle, Lisa Heavner, Lauren Hennebury, Pam Lacko, Ray Rosati, Jeff Shea. Absent: Mark Orenstein, Mahen Shukla, Eric Zematis

The meeting commenced at 5:00pm.

Pam Lacko, chairman, asked Jeff Shea to give the Task Force an update on what the engineering department is doing with the current GIS system and discuss his thoughts on moving it forward. Jeff Shea identified issues with the current system including data integrity (accuracy and timeliness of data updates) and on-going maintenance of the data. He indicated that he has been working with Rick Bazzano and other department heads to identify issues and begin to "scrub" the data but the process is slow and hasn’t been adopted town wide at this point. Resources are the main issue as all departments are lean in staff and GIS is a huge endeavor. The Task Force asked for copies of the GIS study done in 2002, which they will review before the next monthly meeting. The group discussed who benefits from a GIS system internally and whether or not we have the cost benefit analysis done. Jeff pointed out that the study done in 2002 had a cost $1.2M. All present felt the 12 year old plan needed to be updated. Resources to do this again were at issue. The Task Force will invite New England GEO systems to our next meeting in July to better understand the current costs of a system and the costs to maintain it going forward (staffing/resources).

Rick Bazzano gave an update on the upgrades (XP to Windows 7) being done at the Simsbury Public Library and use of reduce cost software through Tech Soup, a company that can provide certain software at a cheaper price to not for profit organizations.

Rick Bazzano will send out the position description for the new IT analyst to the Task Force by Friday, June 6, 2014 for comment/input.

Rick Bazzano and Tom Cooke will start the process of securing a consultant to draw out the high level strategic plan for the town’s technology.

Tom Cooke will send out a notice to the public inviting residents with a technology background to join the Task Force as we have lost several members due to other commitments.

The meeting adjourned at 6:30pm.