Minutes 04/15/09

Approved 05/20/09

Tech Committee minutes 4/15/09

The meeting was called to order at 7 pm.

Present were Selectmen’s Representative Bob Holden, Bill Tappan, Kevin Ash, Bob Young, Lucy Edwards, and Ken Curley.  IT Contractor Pete Jones was out of town.

The minutes of the March meeting were approved.

The committee reviewed the IT report which Pete Jones submitted by e-mail. 

1. No signs of Conficker worm on the Town of Northwood network on April 1. I continue to monitor the network for signs of malicious activity, both manually and automatically.
2. New cleaning tapes for the tape drive are now onsite, a weekly cleaning protocol has been discussed with Diane Young, she is the town employee who switches the backup tapes every day, regular cleanings to start this Friday.
3. Data organization project has started. Based on conversations with the Board Administrator, the Finance Director, and the new Town Administrator, I have developed a preliminary scheme and hope to be rolling out the new directory structure (approved by the interestedparties) within 30 days. I've heard that a significant amount of time is wasted searching for data; this data organization should significantly improve efficiency.
4. The Vital Records data that previously only existed on the Town Clerk's State provided computer is now copied nightly on to the town
   hall server.

Chair Bill Tappan would like us to set goals for the year and then take inventory of how we did at the end of the year.  We would need to establish a method to rate ourselves.

Bill had established a goals and objectives list for our discussion.  We reviewed the list and added a section for the website, since we all agreed it is not being used to its potential for communicating with the residents of town, as well as people doing business here, traveling here and thinking of moving here.

Goals and objectives topic headings:

Telecommunications and other communications technology

1. Inventory of all telecoms equipment, or review of last inventory
2. Review of service agreements and telecom service contracts
3. Low power radio station
4. Phone notification system school is using - contact Steve Robert, the tech coordinator at the school.

Network and IT infrastructure

1. Routers
2. Switches

Desktop and Server Hardware and Software

1. Conduct a review of all desktop/laptop systems owned by the town (OS, applications, storage, memory, CPU.)
2. Conduct a review of all desktop software licenses and SLAs (service level agreements).
3. Conduct a software needs assessment for town departments.

Technology Usage and Purchasing Policies

1. Review and update, enhance or create town IT usage policy.
2. Review and update, enhance or create town IT purchasing policy.
3. LIcensing, documentation policy
4. Develop a brief survey for conducting the desktop license, SLA and software needs assessments for the town.
5. Develop a brief survey for the network end users regarding IT support, system, application, and training needs

Website

Other

1. Town and school district IT collaboration
2. IT internship position for CBNA or other high school age student (a semi-competitive public service credited role with the town/school).  Need mentoring, oversight.

Bob Young suggests that all committee members be NIMS700A certified.  He explains how to take the test on line.  He explained that this will help us understand the issues and practices of communication and organization in a disaster situation.

Kevin Ash will set up some suggested goals for the website. 

Next meeting is scheduled for Wed. May 20, at 7 pm at the town hall. The meeting adjourned at 8:10.