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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/09/2010 TECHAugust 9, 2010 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES BOARD HELD ON August 9, 2010 The Regular Session of the TECHNOLOGIES BOARD of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 6:30 pm on the 9th of August, 2010 at CITY HALL, in the City Managers Conference Room, City Hall, 6800 MAIN STREET, THE COLONY, TEXAS, with the following roll call: Bill Swink present Steven Steele present Andrew Turner present Stephen Hoffman absent Lyle Snider present Tim Tomlinson present With five out of six members present a quorum was established and the following items were discussed. 1.0 Call Meeting to Order: 6:30 P.M. Meeting called to order at 6:30. 2.0 DISPOSITION OF MINUTES Acceptance of Technologies Board Minutes for a meeting held on April 5, 2010. 3.0 CITIZEN INPUT None 4.0 AGENDA ITEMS 4.1 Consider and approve a recommendation for a new inmate phone system for the new jail. Chris Plemons, Operations Captain for the City of The Colony Police Department, gave a presentation on the proposed inmate phone system. Mr. Plemons said they have chosen to go with Legacy Inmate Communications based on the proposal they offer the greatest commission to the city of the four proposals submitted as well as the greatest features. Mr. Snider asked if there will be a phone installed in each cell and if Legacy will provide the hardware. Mr. Plemons said each cell with have a phone and all of the hardware and installation will be supplied as well as a single workstation. Mr. Tomlinson asked what the cost is to the City. Mr. Plemons said there is no cost to the City. Legacy will provide the phones and take care of all of the maintenance at no charge. Mr. Snider asked if the cost of the phone calls is higher than what the inmates are charged now. Mr. Plemons August 9, 2010 said the calls are a little higher than what is being charged now. Mr. Swink asked if the inmates have an option not to use the phones. Mr. Plemons said the inmates are given the option to make reasonable free phone calls. Mr. Snider asked if the free phone calls will be on the new system or if they will have to use another phone. Mr. Plemons said they will use the new system and the phone calls will be PIN based. Each inmate will be assigned a PIN number when they are booked in and the officer can program in the free calls to that PIN number. Mr. Snider asked if there was a charge back to the city for the free calls. Mr. Plemons said there will not be. Mr. Steele asked if we will be using our existing equipment or taking the new equipment offered by Legacy. Mr. Plemons said they will be installing the new equipment. Mr. Steele asked if the current phones are the same as the new phones. Mr. Plemons said they are very similar. They do not have a receiver and the caller will have to place their head against the phone. Mr. Steele asked if the phones could be knocked off of the wall. Mr. Plemons said they have had them in place for several years and that has not happened up to this point. If that does happen Legacy will install a new phone within twenty-four hours. Mr. Turner asked if Mr. Plemons had spoken to any of Legacy's existing customers. Mr. Plemons said he had not spoken to any personally but there are two testimonials included in the proposal. Mr. Tomlinson asked if our current company was solicited for proposal. Mr. Plemons said they did submit a proposal but the technology they offer is not comparable to what Legacy is offering. Mr. Swink asked if Legacy will provide a local copy of the recording of phone calls since they will be done offsite. Mr. Plemons said all of the files are maintained offsite and we will have password protected VPN access and will be able to pull off the recording we need and save it to a DVD. Mr. Swink asked if they will be using an RSA Secure ID along with the password protection. Mr. Plemons said they will not be using one. Mr. Snider asked if it is a URL VPN connection. Mr. Plemons said yes. Mr. Swink asked if the system is voice over IP. Mr. Plemons said it is phone line based. Mr. Swink asked if the city will handle the prepaid debit card transactions. Mr. Plemons said the City will collect the revenues or the Inmate can call a number to use a credit card. Mr. Snider asked if the system is PCI compliant due to the fact that they are taking credit card information. Mr. Plemons contacted Curtis Brown with Legacy Communications on a conference call to answer the boards' questions. Mr. Swink asked if the calls are voice over IP. Mr. Brown said it uses IP technology but it is not voice over IP. They use MPLS technology and it will be a dedicated point to point circuit. Mr. Swink asked if the call recordings are stored offsite. Mr. Brown said the recordings can be stored onsite if they install a server at our site but they would prefer to store them on their main server. Mr. Snider asked if our city will have a separate database in their system. Mr. Brown said that we will have our own database in their system and it will be completely separate from any other facilities in the system. Mr. Snider asked if the city is DHCP or static. Bruce Maker, IT Manager for the City of The Colony, said the city is DHCP internal but static outside. Mr. Brown said that the system carries a system log that can be viewed with an administrative password and you will be able to see the IP address and password that was utilized as well as all functions that were carried out by that person while they were logged in to the system. Mr. Swink asked about the Accupin option. Mr. Brown said it is a great option but they would need to interface with the JMS provider. It can be done manually at booking but the best way would be with an interface to the JMS. Mr. Plemons asked if Legacy has an existing interface with New World 2 August 9, 20 10 Systems. Mr. Brown said he does not know if they do but it should not be a problem to contact New World for the interface. Mr. Plemons asked if we would have to pay New World for the interface. Mr. Brown said he does not think they would charge but Legacy will contact them to work it out. Mr. Plemons asked if we would be able to enter the information directly into a terminal outside on New World if we did not utilize the interface at turn up. Mr. Brown said they could add the key ACCUPIN fields to the inmate registry. Mr. Swink asked if there will be hands on training. Mr. Brown said the training person will be demonstrating the system through each field and the officers will have the opportunity to use the software. Mr. Steele asked about training after inception for new employees. Mr. Brown said they would have access to web training and an account executive that would be responsible for on-going training. Mr. Snider asked if a router will be installed. Mr. Brown said it will be. Mr. Swink asked if Legacy will be using their Class 5 switch. Mr. Brown said yes. Mr. Snider asked if Legacy handles the debit and prepaid collect billing or if they have a back end processor. Mr. Brown said they handle all of the processing themselves and do not utilize any outside providers other than local contract technicians for maintenance. Mr. Plemons asked if they handle the legalities for recordings to be used in court. Mr. Brown said they currently service several facilities in Texas and have an understanding of what is required in Texas. Bill Swink made a motion to approve the inmate phone system. Lyle Snider seconded the motion. Motion carries. 5.0 ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:23 p.m. APPROVED: Andre urner, Chairman Betty a Alin, Recording Secretary