Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-12-04-CEC-minMinutes of the Lexington Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC) Meeting Date, Place, and Location: December 4, 2012, 8:00 A.M., Town Office Building, Reed Room (111) Members Present: Charles Lamb, Chair; Beth Masterman, Vice - Chair; Jill Hai; Bill Hurley; David Kanter Other Attendees: Dorinda Goodman, Director of Information Technology (IT) /Management Information Systems (MIS) Department; Rob Addelson, Assistant Town Manager for Finance; Sara Arnold, Recording Secretary Documents Presented: • MIS FY2014— FY2018 Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs) • Draft Minutes for the CEC Open- Session Meeting, November 9, 2012 distributed by Mr. Kanter on December 2, 2012 Call to Order: Mr. Lamb called the meeting to order at 8:03 A.M. MIS Capital Projects: The Committee reviewed the five CIPs. For each one, Mr. Kanter asked that inflation be factored into the estimated costs for outlying years, as appropriate. • Replace Head End Equipment —Phase IV: This project will include a bi- directional filtering device to increase email security. The filtering identifies spam and sensitive content based on identifying patterns, such as those used for social security numbers. The design and engineering estimates are part of the program installation. The estimates reflect today's quotes; contingency funds will be used to cover increases that may occur. The Town has a service contract that is covered in the operating budget. Only 39% of the available Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Capital funds have been used because of delays and because the Town waited until some specific new technology became available. • Technology Improvement Program —Phase II: The Town needs increased storage capacity as soon as possible, particularly because of the need to store emails, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data, and data collected in the Town Clerk's office. This program will increase the storage area network (SAN), allowing more dedicated duplication and more unstructured data duplication. The program will also add virtualization blade servers, which will substantially increase the speed of correcting problems. The Committee discussed disaster - recovery resources. The Town backs up nightly; the most that is lost is one day of data. Committee members expressed concern that the back -up data is on site so if there were an event such as a tornado, everything could be lost. Off -site back up was suggested. Page 1 of 3 In response to questions, Ms. Goodman explained that: ➢ The Town currently does cross backup on tapes, which is inexpensive and efficient. ➢ The $4,000 in construction costs is for additional electrical capacity at the Public Services Building. • Network Redundancy and Improvement Plan: The Town is spending $50,000 on a study to determine the needs for a public- safety network. The assessment will determine necessary improvements. Wireless connectivity between buildings is an anticipated recommendation, and installation is included in the estimated construction costs. The Town will need to decide whether non -staff will be allowed to use wireless capability. There was discussion about the need for a service -level agreement with RCN as it provides the fiber for the Town's Institutional Network (iNet). The Town does not have one, and Mr. Addelson commented that RCN has responded as needed. In response to questions, Ms. Goodman explained that: ➢ It's anticipated that the Town will eventually have its own generator to provide back -up power to the equipment providing the network connectivity. ➢ The schools have their own technology program. • Replace Town -Wide Phone Systems —Phase II: Under Phase I, a schedule for phasing in the installation of upgraded phone systems for the town and schools was developed. Also under Phase I, the Town has issued a Request for Proposals to replace phone systems in the buildings identified as most in need of replacement equipment. Phase II continues the upgrades in additional buildings. • Town -Wide Electronic Document Management System —Phase III: The Town is using the Laserfiche document management system to store school and town documents. The contract with Laserfiche involves a sole- source process. There was discussion about the reliability of the company. Ms. Goodman reported that the company has been around a long time. She noted that Laserfiche provides Lexington with an interface, but the schema is proprietary. In response to questions, Ms. Goodman said that she would like to see more redundancy at the Police and Fire Departments because they need to be functioning 24/7. There was additional discussion about using off -site back -up resources. There was also discussion about security. It was noted that the network is shared with high - school students, and most attacks are associated with social engineering. Committee members suggested that it would be worth it to spend $50,000 for a comprehensive security assessment. This should be done by a third party, followed by awareness training for employees, and back -up recovery drills should be conducted periodically to confirm the reliability of the back -up files.. Page 2 of 3 Open Meeting Law (OML): Recent training for committee chairs regarding the OML indicated that committee members need to be particularly cautious about using "Reply to All" when responding to an e-mail sent out to multiple committee members if the subject matter is anything but strictly administrative in nature. Mock Town Meeting: The Committee was reminded that there will be a Mock Town Meeting on March 16, 2013. The members reiterated their interest in participating. Minutes: It was moved and seconded to approve the November 9, 2012, Open- Session Minutes with Ms. Hai's clarification of her comments, as discussed. Vote: 4 -0 -1 (Ms. Masterman abstained as she was not at that meeting.) Next Meetings: The Committee discussed that the non -Town projects approved by the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) for FY2014 under the Community Preservation Act (CPA) are required to be presented to this Committee. As formal CPC approval has not yet happened for those requesting FY2014 funding under the CPA, those presentations would normally be scheduled for January; however, if approval seems assured for some of those projects, they could be scheduled earlier. The Committee's next meeting on December 11 is expected to be fully occupied by the presentation of the Department of Public Facilities (DPF) CIPs. However, the meeting on December 18 currently has on the Agenda only the presentation of the few Lexington Public Schools' CIPs and two, carry- over, Schools- related DPF projects. As both the applications by LexHAB for set -aside funding and by the Lexington Housing Authority for the Greeley Village Front Doors Project seem likely to be approved, their proponents will be invited to make their presentations at the December 18 meeting. Ms. Hai left at 10:35 A.M. Adjourn: A Motion was made and seconded at 10:45 A.M. to adjourn. Vote: 4 -0 These Minutes were approved by the CEC at its meeting on December 18, 2012. Page 3 of 3