Champaign County Information Technology Committee met Oct. 31.
Here is the agenda provided by the committee:
Committee Members:
| Present | Absent |
| Giraldo Rosales – Chair | |
| Aaron Esry | |
| Leah Taylor | |
| Pranjal Vachaspati | |
| Jodi Wolken | |
| Sreenivasa Rao | |
| Darlene Kloeppel | |
| Andy Rhodes |
I. Call to Order
Committee Chair Rosales called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m.
II. Roll Call
A verbal roll call was taken, and a quorum was declared present
III. Approval of Agenda
MOTION by Mr. Esry to approve the agenda, seconded by Ms. Wolken. Upon vote, the MOTION
CARRIED unanimously.
IV. Approval of Minutes
MOTION by Mr. Esry to approve the minutes, seconded by Ms. Taylor. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
V. Public Participation
None
VI. Communications None
VII. New Business: For Discussion
A. Technology Plan
Mr. Rhodes went through the list and explained the various items and how they worked together. One area of concern for him is FOIA Management. Most requests are for the Sheriff’s office and they have their own internal system for managing that. FOIA, in general, is an area that needs to be looked at as there is no central FOIA officer. There are FOIA officers in each department. There’s not a centralized place for people to make requests. This is an area that needs to be completely reexamined. He feels we need a centralized FOIA Officer in the State’s Attorney Office that examines each request and the responses we’re making to the requests.
There are also some items included on the list that the county helps pay for, but that we don’t manage. They include GIS, Law Enforcement Records Management (ARMS) and METCAD.
Mr. Esry asked about the Courtroom Recording System. Do we see that getting bad enough that the presiding judge might order it be replaced before the scheduled time frame? Mr. Rhodes replied that it should last that long and as long as we have a plan in place, the presiding judge will usually work with us. There is a problem with the recordation system as it has been failing and there are issues getting the vendor, who is a national vendor, to service it as there is no maintenance agreement in place. Mr. Esry asked as if when we replace this system will we look at more localized vendor to get a quicker response. Due to the expense, we would have to do an RFP on this. The last time we did this, we did get responses from four or five vendors from the local area.
Mr. Rosales asked if there would be any opportunities for grants. Mr. Rhodes explained that there would be opportunities for grants in some areas like the Voter Registration and Election Management System and Sheriff body and squad car cams. Some items are funded by other entities, for example the Courtroom Recordation system would be partly offset by the State of Illinois.
Mr. Rosales asked if each department has its own IT budget (based on the spreadsheet provided). Mr. Rhodes answered that they don’t necessarily have their own IT budget, but those are funds that have been used previously. Ms. Kloeppel added that these are special places we can draw funds from that would not come out of the general fund.
Mr. Rosales stated he met with Senator Bennett and some of the judges and that there is a fund of $500,000 that is available for IT file management system for the courts. Has that come to fruition or is that something that could be utilized for some of these projects? Ms. Kloeppel replied that she has not heard any further that we have that money or where it would come from. There is a fund available at the state level that legislators can utilize, and it’s supposed to be put towards public safety. One thing they were looking at was an integrated A/V system for the courtrooms that included video screens, laptops for the attorneys, etc. Mr. Rhodes said that the courtroom A/V systems was not included on the spreadsheet.
Ms. Kloeppel spoke as to wanting to make sure that the committee understands what the systems are and that the cost estimates were either what we’re already paying and that some are just estimates. This committee will not have to find the funding, that will be for the County Board to do. This committee is looking at the sequence, estimated life, that we have the right items and to set the time line to look at replacement so we can avoid dealing with emergency situations. Some of these costs could be shifting from purchasing to maintenance, etc. Mr. Rhodes added that some costs could go down. For example, AS400 costs could go down as we shift to other systems.
Mr. Rosales asked about the life spans. Technology changes quickly and are the estimated life spans correct. Ms. Taylor added that things with the longer lifespans are more expensive and maybe we should look at those 2 years ahead of time and those with shorter lifespans could just be a year ahead of time. Mr. Rhodes also said to remember that the systems have upgrade paths built into them, so we get the upgrades during their life cycle. Part of what we need to look at when replacing a system would be are there new vendors, new features, cloud systems, etc.
Ms. Wolken asked if these would be reviewed annually? This should be looked at and updated annually.
Mr. Rao questioned that if the years of life were shortened, if the costs would change much. Mr. Rhodes didn’t think it would change by much. Mr. Rao said with technology changing every two to three years, should we look at changing the estimated life to maybe five or six years instead of 10 to 15. If the estimated life is 5 to 7 years, would that change the costs. Mr. Rhodes said that we could have a software/systems review periodically to see if we want to stay with that lifespan. Mr. Rao would like to see cost estimates for shorter lifespans to see if there would be any savings. Mr. Rhodes stated that with all costs being estimates, he’s not sure that we can get an accurate cost estimate. On several of the items we are also committed to a contract period, usually 3 to 5 years.
Mr. Rosales raised the question if we are compatible with other counties or states. Mr. Rhodes said a lot of states are more consolidated in their tax systems and court systems. He sees Illinois going to a consolidated court system, but not a consolidated tax system.
Mr. Rosales asked if input was received from department heads. Mr. Rhodes said It was discussed at a department heads meeting and that all departments are included; the ones that gave him feedback and the ones that did not. Mr. Rosales also asked if we had been in contact with the U of I Research Park / Engineering about anything new they may have coming out in the next 5 years. We have not made any contact with them.
Mr. Esry said that unless the County Board hears that something is failing, leave the replacement schedule up to Mr. Rhodes, Ms. Kloeppel, IT and the department heads. He does like the idea of reviewing the plan more often and before items are at the end of their lifespan. He likes Ms. Taylor’s idea of reviewing the more expensive items two years before and the less expensive items one year before. He sees no problem with the way this is laid out as is.
Mr. Rhodes said the systems most at risk right now are the Video Evidence Management System, Financial System, and a catastrophic failure to the phone system would move that up in the list.
Ms. Kloeppel stated that this list talks about the hardware and software, but not the personnel. We need to look at the staffing because that is shifting, not only due to staffing changes, but also changing needs. How well IT runs affects the rest of the county staff. Staffing needs would be something we should discuss at the next meeting. Ms. Taylor questioned whether the plan is just hardware/software and doesn’t include staffing, training, etc. Ms. Kloeppel added that it would need to be included in the budget.
Mr. Rao asked if there are any systems that can be used state-wide to help shift costs away from the county. Mr. Rhodes answered that the Voter Registration program uses a state-wide data base. Voter Registration and the Court Systems in many states are integrated, but not in Illinois.
VIII. Other Business
Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 13th at 9:00 a.m.
IX. Chair’s Report None
X. Adjournment
Committee Chair Rosales adjourned the meeting at 9:50 a.m.
http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/IT/2019/191031_Meeting/191031Minutes.pdf
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