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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 10, 2001Management Team Minutes City Hall Training Room January 10, 2001 8:15 a.m. AGENDA ITEMS New Items: 1. MIS Items (Olivia) 2. Retreat: Feb 5-7 (Julie) 3. Agenda Planning Calendar/Strategic Calendar Update (Tom) 4. Other 1. MIS Items: Olivia Burnside, MIS Director. ➢ Electronic Signatures - ApproveIt software This software allows the "signing" of documents electronically. It embeds code into Word and/or Excel files that tell ANYONE who views or prints the document that it has an electronic signature and what software is needed to verify the signature. If the document is altered AFTER an electronic signature is placed on it then it WILL NOT PRINT and when the software is used to verify it tells the user that the document has been changed since the signature was placed on it. MIS will set up a verification server on the network for this software. The first use of this will be for Legal signing Ordinances and Resolutions and City Manager's office signing Cover Sheets as a part of the Electronic Agenda. Need Decisions ➢ 17" flat screen (NOT flat panel) monitors In looking at the ergonomic needs of city employees, MIS made the decision to make 17" monitors the "standard" in the city. This means that MIS no longer purchases 15" monitors to replace monitors that become unusable. MIS purchases 10 replacement monitors at a time. MIS looked at positions in the city where the employee spend 6 or more hours each day working at the PC. When 10 new 17" monitors come in MIS places them in these high use areas, pulling back the usable 15" monitors which are then used to replace other 15" monitors that go bad. So far the following have received 17" monitors: Records Clerks at Police, Customer Service Reps at Municipal Court, and Customer Service Reps in Utility Customer Service (not those on the counters). The next group of 17" monitors are scheduled for the Accounting Division. MIS anticipates 3 to 4 years before all the 15" monitors fail. The management team discussed the use of 17" Flat Monitors vs. Flat Panel Monitors. Decision Point: MIS would like to get a prioritized list from each Director showing the order in which they would like employees/positions in their Department to receive 17" monitors. Then as 15" monitors in your Department fail we will place a 17" monitor and roll the usable 15" monitor to the position that failed. Consensus: Follow MIS recommendations in converting to 17" monitors following director prioritization. ➢ Color Printers Several areas throughout the city purchased Ink Jet color printers a couple of years back. Most of these are connected to a single PC for one user. These printers have a life expectancy of 1.5 to 2 years and cost between $200 and $600 dollars. The tri -color ink cartridges cost about $28 and print about 461 pages. Cost per page approximately $.061 Color Laser Printers (HP) cost about $2300. If the city goes to the Laser printers for color the cost moves us toward sharing these resources in a centralized area in each building/department. The color toner cartridges cost about $93 each (need 3 colors = $279) and print about 6,000 pages. Cost per page approximately $.047 More information on costs will be provided at Wednesday meeting Decision Points: Should the city move toward Laser Color Printers? (MIS recommends this) If the city moves to Laser Color Printers where should they be located? If the city stays with the local to PC ink jet printers how does MIS replace them using a 15% replacement policy? Consensus: The management Team discussed the budget implications of this item and the consensus was to return the item to the team with more cost and budget information at a later date. ➢ Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) (HandSprings, Palm Pilots, etc.) So far the city has purchased 4 PDAs, all of them HandSprings, we use Intellisync software to integrate these devices with the GroupWise email and calendar. MIS has had a request to connect personally owned Palm Pilots to the GroupWise using Intellisync software. The request was for the city to purchase the software. MIS is aware of at least 2 employees who purchased their own Palm Pilots and have loaded the Intellisync software on the city's PC on their desk at work. So far these have not created problems. The cost of Intellisync is about $70. Issues: a) If software is loaded on a city PC it should be owned by the city. In case the city is ever audited for software loaded on city owned computers the city must be able to prove it holds the license or show where/how the software was purchased. License folders for each software are maintained in the PC Coordinators office in MIS. b) MIS should be loading all software on city owned PCs. When software is loaded on a PC many files may be altered during the install. Many of these files are common Windows configuration files used by multiple softwares. MIS finds conflicts between softwares using these common files and then researches how to configure around the conflicts. (Intellisync has not yet caused any of this type of problem.) Decision Point: Should the city pay for the Intellisync software for employees who purchase their own PDAs? Should this require Director approval or supervisor approval? Consensus: Dept. Director should decide if the employee should have a PDA and the City should purchase and License the software. ➢ Queuing Software The City has new software that checks incoming email for viruses and quarantines the viruses for investigation. Another new software gives MIS the ability to archive all incoming and outgoing emails. Currently, MIS is not archiving the emails. Consensus: Continue with current procedures until the City has an email retention policy. MIS wants to automatically add the City logo to all emails going outside the City. Consensus: Do it. MIS can regulate the size of incoming emails. Currently, the City will accept emails up to 5MB but in time MIS wants to reduce the size accepted to 2MB. The reduction would reduce the amount of storage capacity needed for emails. Once the file limit is changed MIS will use an FTP server to allow files larger than 5MB to be emailed to the City. Consensus: Limit the size of incoming emails to 2MB once the FTP server is operational. MIS wants direction on routing incoming emails addressed to employees no longer with the City. Consensus: HR should conduct quarterly reports detailing employees who have not been employed by the City for a minimum of two years. MIS will remove these persons from the email list. 2. Management Team Retreat: Julie O'Connell, HR Director, distributed the agenda and room assignment list. Directors should contact Julie and let her know if they want to take their own car. Everyone attending the retreat should bring the notebook from the management team training in November 2000. 3. Agenda Planning Calendar: Tom Brymer, City Manager, reviewed the calendar. 4. Other: ➢ Strategic Planning - the Office of Budget and Strategic Planning needs departmental updates on strategic plan items reported to them as soon as possible. ➢ EIC - Julie O'Connell reported on the EIC meeting that took place January 9th. The following topics were discussed: - Per Diem: Employees wanted to know if they can purchase food at the grocery store for consumption in their motel room and charge it to the procurement card. Employees may do that, but cannot save money to spend more on other meals. Current meal limits are: $7 for breakfast, $8 for lunch and $18 for dinner for in state functions. Charles Cryan will review the amounts and return to the mgt team in the future. - Internet Policy: Departments have made all personal use of the internet prohibited. EIC discussed making an internet policy similar to the email policy. Mgt team liked the idea of an internet policy. - Expanding Sick leave policy: to include parents not living in the house. No action. Tom stated in the future he would like to see EIC agenda topics that cover customer service and other related items instead of all personnel issues and asked directors to bring these topics forward in future EIC meetings. ➢ Travel - Tom Brymer reminded directors to make sure all travel reports are submitted to the appropriate person for review. ➢ Budget Calendar - Tom Brymer informed directors that they should be aware of the possible upcoming changes in the economy and plan appropriately for it. The emphasis is going to be on the retention and adequate compensation of employees instead of the addition of new personnel. ➢ Presentation skills Training - Offered Feb 8th and 15th, contact HR for more info. ➢ CPR Training - Offered during the second week of February to all City employees who need certification. CSFD requests that each student pay $6 to help cover the costs of equipment replacement. Students are required to have the Heart Association manual during the course, they may purchase one or obtain a copy of the manual by contacting the Fire Dept.