Common Council

SPECIAL COMMON COUNCIL MEETING FEBRUARY 15, 2011 7:00 P.M. Regular Meeting The Special meeting of the Common Council of the City of Middletown was held in the Council Chamber of the Municipal Building on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7 p.m. Present Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano; Council Members: Ronald P. Klattenberg, Philip J. Pessina, Joseph E. Bibisi, Robert P. Santangelo, James B. Streeto, Grady L. Faulkner, Jr., Deborah A. Kleckowski, David Bauer, and Daniel T. Drew; Sergeant-at-arms Acting Chief of Police Patrick McMahon; and Common Council Clerk Marie O. Norwood. Absent Council Members Thomas J. Serra, Gerald E. Daley, and Hope P. Kasper, and Corporation Counsel William Howard. Also Present William Oliver, Information Technology Director; Michael Tuttle, Software Engineer Meeting Called to Order The Acting Chair (Deputy Mayor Bibisi) calls the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. asks Councilman Klattenberg to lead the public in the Pledge of Allegiance. Call of Meeting Read The Call of the meeting is read and accepted. The Deputy Mayor declares this call a legal call and the meeting a legal meeting. Workshop Opens The Acting Chair opens Questions to Directors workshop at 7:04 p.m. The Mayor states he has summoned the Council to this workshop to have the IT Director present a plan that I asked him to do a couple of months ago. As all of you are aware, just about 6 years ago, the City created a Department of Technology and since that time, the original marching orders were a reactive system where a department director would implement technology and it would be up to the it department to make it fit in and that approach resulted in a dispatch system that did not work and a billing system at Water and Sewer with a meter reading system that could not transmit data to a usable billing format. I asked the director to change his focus and look at what the capability is out there and how we can take advantage of it. Instead of IT acting as support for departments, but to transition to the medium and operate with IT. If you look at what we do at City Hall and strip away the individual synchronicities and what we do is information processing but the thing is we do it the way they did it 200 years ago. Information comes into the building and that information is then transmitted throughout the building; it is literally hand carried and that is how it is processed. The rest of the world does not operate that way. We need to look at a paradigm shift where everything is input using information technology and it is available to everyone in the public and media outlets. Those seeking FOI should be able to have it fulfilled by electronic data. He sat down with the IT Director and we needed to take the subject and look at the long-range view of it and what is available and he wants the director to look at what comes after whatìs next. We need to know what capabilities we need and what road to go down. Mayor Giuliano introduces Bill Oliver and Mike Tuttle. Mr. Oliver states one of the things we have done in the process is taking a look at a formalized view; it is not an official plan, but to inform you about the process and what they are evaluating. You have a list of items from Department Heads for items that they need to move their department forward. It is divided into three and 5 year goals. I hope you review the projects, and contact us about them so when the plan is put together, we have your input in this process as well. We will come back to the council to assign priorities. Mr. Oliver shows a video clip regarding the advancement of information and technology. Mr. Oliver states exponential time describes what is going on in the world today and that is the environment we find ourselves in. We need to manage that. The citizens of Middletown are participating in that. They are developing that content and how we continue to operate with older processes or older ideas needs to change and we need to evolve and look at what we need to plan for. We did that in 2008 and we have exceeded some of those things in that presentation. We need to change what we do and in our mind shift. We need to look at assets and how it will be used in furthering the goals of the citizens. We need to formalize our thinking. We then need to communicate the goals and transmit that to the citizens. We built using technology, mostly February 15, 2011 COMMON COUNCIL MEETING Page 2 reactive and we reacted to those things. Things happen in departments and it is not revolving around the long-range plans. You can look at things in the long-range plan and if you donìt do something in year five, you might not be able to do something in year 7. Two years ago, we talked about building a plan and discussed coming up with a formalized plan and not fly by the seat of our plants. We talked about what needs to go into the plan. We highlighted some areas to address. We are looking at building out on the formalized plan. We think about how to approach technology. It is an integral part of our operations. The IT Department would work on how to get the data in and print reports. That is no longer the case. We are all technology consumers. We can no longer think about it as isolated. It is the new pencil. Every information worker uses it as an integral part of the job. How does it make it possible to do new things or do it in a better way. Does technology make that possible. In terms of procurement, we need to look at that. In the City, it has always been a capital item. We would amortize it over time. Computers are no longer capital goods ó it is a consumer good and should no longer be capitalized. We need to change our approach for technology procurement format of tactical to strategic. We operate now, as putting out fires, reacting to the immediate needs. We need to change the focus to get to the prevention or better use of the Cityìs dollars to eliminate the crises that come up. We have to take the new technology that may enable us to use new methods to do the work. There are new operations with new procedures and new tools and with the market forces, we need to take advantage of that. We have a group of users using windows operating system; most are using XP and if he doesnìt plan for a training program for windows XP, except the world has moved to Windows 7 and if we donìt move forward, he canìt guide them to references for the new materials. It means for us for planning, we can focus on projects; if you are not reacting and tactical, you can look at what is strategic. There will always be maintenance work, but now you can look at what is important and look at prioritizing. Which type of projects lead to more exponential returns. There should be a formalize project management. A formalized process sets out those rules instead of working by the seat of our pants management. If the City were to move forward, what is the City missing. The City needs to look at specific projects; they need someone to serve as a project manager who has certain skills that can address the business end of it and the project manager cannot be a critical resource on the project. He uses an example form his college years. You have to make sure the person steering the ship is not consumed by a task of the project. You need a standard team to help evaluate the requests and assign priorities to that. We need to do that. We need to look at the standing team and should involve some Department specialists. If a department has a new idea, there should be a standardized form so the committee can evaluate the plan and decide where it belongs. We need to take advantage of tools to manage the projects. There are systems out there and we use one now out there. It sends me an e-mail each morning and those types of tools are necessary to keep the projects moving forward and on time. The City is looking at the 3, 5, and 7 year windows. He wanted the goals to be reviewed annually so we can be here next year to review it and it becomes part of the budget. We will report on the 3-year goals, 5-year and 7-year and adjust the process as it moves along. It should be organized around themes. What they targeted was customer service, portability, and infrastructure. The project plan has to be flexible. You have to allow for some slack so if a new thing comes along, we can react to it without throwing off project implementation. If we donìt plan for flexibility, we wonìt be able to accommodate change. On customer service, they looked at how we come to City Hall to do business. Why force them. We should focus on making the processes happen on peopleìs schedules. We should give them information when they request it. We need to think about the infrastructure of information. People will pay small fees for information that is quickly provided. In terms of customer service, all projects need to focus on how they service the City of Middletown. Projects need to be defined as service to the City. There are themes of portability. In 2004, Sprint did a report on the value of information the more mobile IT becomes. How do we take advantage of portability of information for our citizens. He discusses the various departments, like Health or Building doing inspections and why do we ask people to come in to get or mail them their report. Why canìt we fill out an inspection form and print it in the car and hand to the restaurant owner on the spot. Infrastructure is important and is never seen as pressing. He uses shopping malls and they would not be developed without highways. If there is no it infrastructure that can talk to other outside offices and if there is no connection then it becomes impossible to share information that is needed. It is the most critical that we are considering. You have the first set of survey responses. He highlights some of the things they are looking at. We want to think about the Cityìs internet presence and that includes social media like Facebook pages. How do we take advantage of that. To make the website easier to navigate and update, our website we are a victim of our February 15, 2011 COMMON COUNCIL MEETING Page 3 own success. We had one before other towns and it was designed with people with modems and while we made significant strides, we have the same type of system; there is a set of static pages that donìt change. If the site is more dynamic, you can stay in contact with consumers. We are also looking at remote capability. Like inspection, code violations, police reports, things requiring someone not to have come back to their desk. We are thinking about archiving and storage and document management and retention pool. We are storing things and squeezing paper into every nook and cranny and we should look at technology for storage because it will be easier to search and store. If we can manage it electronically, it will be more available to the public. He asks that you look at the list and discuss with him what they would like to see. Mr. Oliver ends his discussion with a second video clip regarding, made a year later than the first on the growth of information technology. He states they are from shifthappens.wikispaces.com. He states he will respond to questions. Councilman Drew thanks him and the Mayor for bringing this to us. It is important and is interesting in seeing the plan shake out. He asks how long for the plan and the next major step. Mr. Oliver responds he will have it during the budget process and the next step is who we want to participate in the process and take the next step. The departments have pent up requests and they need to filter through that. Councilman Drew asks how many pieces on the list are critical for doing up front. Mr. Oliver responds what you have is what departments felt is important and they are all critical. He doesnìt agree with all of them and couldnìt do them in one year. Those critical go into the three year window. They are looking at projects happening now and they have to put numbers on them and that has not been done yet. Councilman Drew asks if they are looking at vendors to do the work or is the City going to build them. Mr. Oliver states if it is an enterprise style system, we donìt want to reinvent a new wheel. There are some processes that make Middletown unique and they donìt want to lose those. We should take advantage of new systems instead of trying to do it the way we did. If we can take advantage of what another municipalities are doing, we want to do that. If the list is small, we can do it in house. Councilman Klattenberg states this is the type of presentation he saw at Northeast Utilities and it is a big overview and he asks if he took some of the ideas from a corporation. Mr. Oliver responds I have big thoughts myself. Councilman Klattenberg states it is frightening and you look at the City and people want public safety, public works, roads plowed, and you are talking about information being available and I am thinking about snow plows. You have big thoughts, but what is needed is whatever the plan becomes it needs to be pared down to the essentials so City services can be provided to tax payers. Maybe because I am getting older, it is not an annoyance to go to town hall to pick up a form and other generations would say the opposite, but there is a benefit for personal interactions. The plan needs not to lose sight of the personal interactions. It needs to reflect that. It is a statement and my question is whether if this is way to big and beyond the capabilities of the City. Are there other cities doing an aggressive plan. Mr. Oliver states one of the things they were evaluating is a vehicle tracking system using the technology in cell phones. It collects information. Enfield does this already. Someone gets a call and says their street is not plowed and they can open up and look a the route information and this would provide service to the City. Because we use private contractors, we want to know what routes they used and how long it took and we can give them a device on the dashboard and we can see how much time they actually plowed and use it to negotiate contracts. All those analytical reactions need the technology. We tackle the big thing by taking small bites. Councilman Klattenberg states whether or not many of the software packages exist and we are sorting through existing software that can be implemented, some of the programs we need. We need to look at how far along in communications we are. Mr. Oliver states we have things in place that can move applications forward and as far as infrastructure building, it has no beginning, middle or end. It requires constant evaluation and expansion. Infrastructure allows us to do things today that we could not do before and there are lots of things we can plug into and the website would be the first thing. The technology becomes a conduit for interaction. E-mail communication is valuable because it allows for much more transmission of communication because it is done on our own time. Councilman Pessina states it is a great presentation; have the directors been exposed to the presentation and are the directors in tune with Mayor Giulianoìs expectation of the change in use of technology. Mr. Oliver responds there is a continuum; some people have been asking for things for years and another group operates pretty well. There has been that communication. They made presentations and sent out the survey and they will push some people. What should your department look like and what technology might help you. Mr. Tuthill responds there was a specific director February 15, 2011 COMMON COUNCIL MEETING Page 4 who wants to see it and would look at the plan daily. He states it is the Library Director and he forwarded his plan and he wants to get going and those are the people we need to work with. Councilman Pessina states he has always been on the cusp. He states so you go to a director and you laid the plan out; how do you capitalize on the ideas; do you evaluate them. They are important because they are close to the City services. When they say to you, they have a better idea, is it your intention to take those suggestions as part of the plan. Mr. Oliver responds we want them to think about, not about what new gizmo there is, but how you can serve the constituents better. We are good about the gizmos, but I donìt know the new regulations and if there are good ideas, we want to move it forward. Mr. Tuttle comments the Library Director is out in front of the pack and there are some who havenìt gotten there yet. We will start the process with those who have started moving. We want to get the thought processes going. Councilman Pessina states as part of strategic thinking, will you survey the workers, the person doing the job. Mr. Oliver responds yes; it is a community operation. We havenìt put together the standing committee. There is a certain perspective about what is important and sometimes you need someone on the outside to look at it. He discusses how Microsoft completes their process. Councilman Pessina states what comes after and what comes next; what are we doing now to get better access for the public. Councilman Streeto thanks him for presentation; I take it this is an overview and we will receive specifics during the budgeting process. When we get those will it be layered in Departments or will it be done discreetly. Mr. Oliver replies the plan will be adopted separate than budget and the plan would be adopted each year according to the budget. Councilman Streeto states some may be in this budget and others will be in other budget years. Mr. Oliver responds the Mayor could answer that better than I, but we have had discussions about the website for immediate changes; they will be in the three year window, but we may need funds in the next fiscal year. Councilman Streeto states whether changing the website would be less preferable than building a new one, we might be better off doing anew one. Most of my questions are better served with a specific plan. Mr. Oliver states if something comes up you let us know so we can incorporate it in the plan. Streaming was in your plan. You are contemplating Council meetings and wonders whether it can be from committee meetings as well. It might not involve that much more hardware. Councilman Faulkner states you can chase technology and not catch it. The biggest concern he has for IT is that everyone thinks that when something comes out everyone has to have it and that is not the case. The staff and culture here is we have an issue and it came up the last time we discussed it. They werenìt up on it and is it still an issue. Mr. Oliver states it is on the continuum. Some are slower to pick up on the change and others who want to move fast. He has not found anyone who is completely resistant to IT. You need to lay out the formalized process and see what is successful and do more of them and what is not and to stop doing those. You have to look at how it makes the work better or easier. Everyone wants to do a good job and if I say to them we will use the new tool and it will save money or get better performance, they have responded well. Councilman Faulkner states on a project and technical basis what he doesnìt see is advocacy for changing culture; he doesnìt see anything on the wall that reinforces the culture. Without that, it might not succeed. The last time we talked we had issues with security, not keeping up with the updates and upgrades because that will kill you and have you stayed on top of that. Mr. Oliver responds since the last time we added 2-1/2 people and we have made enormous strides to that. We have tools to help us monitor that. We have made huge strides and not every issue has been solved, but many of them have been solved or are being solved. Councilman Faulkner asks about the system for the Police Department. Mr. Oliver replies they are well into the implementation process and by the completion of the project, it will be on time or ahead of it and we are below budget. Councilman Faulkner states he has been through the budget process and expected this presentation three years ago and when he has a department come forward to explain their department role and their job is and that is the kind of thing they will need to do it successfully. Councilman Santangelo states one of the things you pointed out is a telephone with two cameras and between them there is a lot of information. In 1992, they began televising these meetings and it brought more people involved in government. You mentioned business people talking to you and that is because people can see us and the buzz word is being transparent. What you are saying is the system will not deny people to come to town hall for the piece of paper. What you are saying is we donìt have access to enough information. Our website is out of date. People want more information and Councilman Streetoìs idea of streaming more meetings can do that. If they canìt get to it, it can be brought to them. What people are February 15, 2011 COMMON COUNCIL MEETING Page 5 asking for is more information. The key piece is the budget and we will need that and access to information is the buzz word. Councilwoman Kleckowski wants to piggyback on other thoughts and she is one who would like to do business from people to people. She asks if a base analysis has been done with people working from home and becoming a 24/7 person. We have been talking about reorganizing space and has thought been given to space. She is not sure why the business is 8:30 to 4:30 because most people are not out during those times. Once the things are in place, it becomes portable and can we have more flexibility and it should be looked at. Mr. Oliver states conversations have been done around it informally. The notion of telework is real in the industry. What we have done recently, a grant allowed video conferencing, but there is no generator in City Hall. IT, during the last storm used video conferencing from the roll call room at the Police Station to the Emergency Center at Cross Street. He tried it from home and the video link worked and that technology needs to be explored. People donìt live in that time frame so it should be explored. Councilman Klattenberg states when he looked at the requests he didnìt see Personnel, Purchasing, Risk Assessment, Public Works, Planning, or Building and Mr. Oliver responds or IT. Councilman Klattenberg asks what he should conclude. Mr. Oliver states this was the first survey response and we made several entries. Not everyone thought about their needs and it was not a formalized response and I would not assume there is no need. Whether each department gets things in the window, IT needs more information. Councilman Klattenberg states everyone was given the opportunity. Mr. Oliver responds yes. Councilman Faulkner states he wanted to take the opportunity to recommend that everyone read the article the Youth Services Director had in the paper regarding cyber bullying because that article points out that we can do a lot of technological things, but we need to touch people to make sure they will stay in control and stop interfering. I am tired of filing information all over the country. He wanted to tell the Chief he appreciated what the department is doing on cyber bullying. Councilman Pessina states we have a webmaster and donìt tell me it is you. Mr. Oliver states it is not me. Councilman Pessina states we have someone who monitors the website. Mr. Oliver states it is not a full time person. Councilman Pessina states it needs to be looked at. And you were bragging that we were one of the first sites. Mr. Oliver responds yes. Councilman Pessina asks about Facebook; Mr. Oliver responds we are looking at that. Motion to Adjourn The Acting Chair asks if there are any other questions. Seeing no response, he asks for a motion to adjourn. Councilman Pessina moves to adjourn and his motion is seconded by Councilman Faulkner. There is no discussion and the vote is called. It is unanimous to adjourn and the Chair declares it at 8:23 p.m. ATTEST: MARIE O. NORWOOD Common Council Clerk