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06/06/2017 04:00 PMFor more than a decade, the Town of Westbrook has relied on Rich Holton of Enterprise Computers to provide the town with hardware and software support services. As the town’s paid provider of information technology services, he also volunteered to provide services at no cost to maintain and update the town’s website. Now town leaders are considering whether it’s time for a change in the information technology (IT) approach.
“There was a general sense that we as a town needed to look at the IT,” said First Selectman Noel Bishop.
Town staff members have expressed concerns to Bishop that critical website support tasks were not being performed in a timely manner. Staff and residents have also complained that it can be difficult to navigate the town website to find where commission and board meeting agendas and minutes are posted, and that sometimes that information is not posted in a timely manner.
This month, the town is significantly increasing its online presence with the launch of a new cloud-based town permitting program, the Municity
software system. The new program will allow contractors to apply for building and zoning clearances online and to track permit and site inspection status, and status of permits and inspections from remote locations. Access to this new public portal will be through the town’s website, so town staff asked Bishop to consider updating the town’s website and information technology support services at the same time.
Bishop agreed with the request.
On May 25, the Board of Selectmen formed an Ad Hoc Technology Committee assigned to address staff concerns regarding the town’s website and to re-examine the town’s current approach to IT support services.
The new Ad Hoc IT Committee will review the status of all of the town’s municipal computer-related services—including the current town website—and to make specific recommendations, with financial implications, to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) no later than Saturday, July 15.
As written in the BOS’s formal charge to the committee, “Pending the committee’s recommendation, the BOS may authorize an RFP with the intention of securing a vendor that will fulfill the present and future technology needs of the municipal government.”
Ken Butterworth, a resident with a strong IT background, was named Ad Hoc IT Committee chairman. Other residents with strong IT backgrounds asked to serve include Darlene Briggs, Lee McNamera, and George Pytlik, Jr.. Representing town staff on the committee are Jill Brainerd from the Selectman’s Office; Ben Russell, the school system’s full-time IT manager; Finance Director Donna Castracane; Town Building Official David Maiden; Deputy Fire Marshal John Planas; and Don Izzo, the town’s director of Emergency Management Services.
The committee’s first meeting was scheduled for June 1. Butterworth distributed to the committee a road map for their work.
The scope of the IT function review, as laid out in this document, included examination of the current town IT contract, current incident report status, technology trends, and issues that affect the IT function such as cloud computing, GIS-enabled technology, social media, and collaboration/data sharing needs.
For the hardware assessment, the committee would start by collecting information such as the town’s current hardware inventory, replacement schedule, operating system inventory, and back-up reports.
Also part of the task would be an assessment of review and update procedures, website design and website hosting, and other related tasks.
Bishop said that although the BOS would like a report with recommendations by July 15, due to the breadth of the committee’s tasks, it will likely take longer to complete their work.