HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/07/2017 TECHMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES BOARD
HELD ON
JUNE 7, 2017
The Regular Session of the TECHNOLOGIES BOARD of The Colony, Texas was called to order
at 6:30pm on the 7TH of JUNE, 2017 at CITY HALL, in the COUNCIL CHAMBERS, City Hall,
6800 MAIN STREET, THE COLONY, TEXAS, with the following roll call:
Bill Swink
Absent
Stephen Hoffman
Present
Joye Grube
Absent
David Veneable
Present
Juan Martinez
Present
Roger Morehouse
Present
Council Liaison
Mayor Joe McCourry Present
Kirk Mikulec Absent
1.0 1 ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.1 Call Meeting to Order at 6:30pm
1.2 General Announcements:
none
2.0 1 DISPOSITION OF MINUTES
2.1 Acceptance of Technologies Board Minutes for a meeting held on May 3, 2017.
Motion to approve — Stephen Hoffman; second by — Roger Morehouse; motion passed with
all ayes.
3.0 1 CITIZEN INPUT
none
4.0 1 AGENDA ITEMS
4.1 Update on video arraignment project.
IT has downloaded a trial version of a program called Bravo to create a form to use with
video arraignment. A member of IT staff is working to create this form using input from
the jailer and police department administration in order to coordinate with video
arraignment program.
4.2
4.3
Update on security awareness training.
Chris updates the board that IT is using a security -training program for employees called
Knowb4. Employees are 90% complete with training. So far, everyone that has completed
the training has passed the quiz.
Discussion of plans to upgrade the City's primary internet connection.
Chris gives a presentation detailing the options for upgrading the internet connection.
In 2014 the city signed a 3year contract with TWC(Spectrum) for 2 connections @ 50Mbps
and 1 connection @ 10Mbps and is currently paying $27,840 per year. On July 23, 2017,
the contract with TWC (Spectrum) expires and will continue on a monthly basis until it is
terminated. Current internet connection and speed is as follows. 50Mbps for City Staff,
50Mbps Library patrons, and l OMbps for remote access Police Department and Fire staff.
The advantage of renewing with Spectrum is there is minimal work required of IT and
minimal downtime. Switching providers would cause different services to break and
require reprogramming. A price comparison sheet is provided to show speeds and pricing
between different service providers. IT is recommending approving resolution for United
Private Network and Grande Communications. These solutions will allow for fail over
internet services, faster speeds allowing for increased use of Internet based software and
better experience for Library patrons and future growth. The cost for service are slightly
less than what the city is currently paying. The city attorney reviewed and approved both
contracts. Services will take approximately 3 months to activate. Stephen Hoffman makes
a motion to approve Chris's proposal of resolution to council. Roger Morehouse second
the motion, and all are in favor.
4.4 Discussion of options for improvement of network connectivity to several remote sites.
There are 17 city building and all but 5 are connected via Fiber. Fire Stationl, 5 Star, Office
Creek, Stewarts Creek Park, and PARD yard are not connected. The current issues we are
experiencing are slow connection speeds, difficult for IT to connect remotely for support,
each site has its own firewall that creates additional difficulty to manage, and each site
connects via its own VPN. Chris gave a presentation with the pricing results of four
different options to increase connectivity. The four options are a partnership with LISD to
lease fiber, city Wifi, an AT&T fiber lease, or the City having their own fiber installed.
There are two slide accompanying these minutes. One that shows total startup cost for each
option and bandwidth speeds and cost estimated per Mb. The second document is a detailed
costs breakdown for each option. The LISD Partnership is by far the best for cost and speed
and is already conveniently located near the areas that the city would need access. Steven
Hoffman makes the first motion for bringing the LISD Partnership resolution to Council
and Juan Martinez seconds the motion, it carries with all ayes.
4.5 Discuss upcoming Technology Board meetings occurring in July and August to
determine a possible schedule change or cancellation.
Due to the upcoming July 4th holiday the board agrees to cancel the July meeting. The
board agrees to hold the next Tech board meeting on Thursday August 3, 2017.
4.6 Board to provide direction to staff regarding future agenda items.
There was no input on future agenda. Juan suggested that if any member comes up with
direction to contact Chris via e-mail to update the agenda for next meeting.
5.0 ADJOURNMENT
With no further Vsiness, the meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. first motion by Stephen Hoffman,
and a second n4tion by Roger Morehouse.
Juan Martinez, Chairman
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