Work Session
November 17, 2014
Present were Mayor Grenier, Councilors Otis, Remillard, Benski, Morgan Allain, Higbee, Rozek; Councilors Nelson and Theberge were absent
Others present included City Manager Jim Wheeler, Police Prosecutor Dan Buteau, Police Communications Manager Jen Cloutier, AV Home Care Executive Director Margo Sullivan, SNS General Manager Kevin Law, Barbara Tetreault, Berlin Daily Sun
Mayor Grenier opened the meeting at 6:36
AV Home Care
Margo Sullivan reported that AV Home Care is a non-certified home care program that provides service to the City’s most vulnerable, usually elderly people. The program employs 3 nurses, and 65 workers. With current funding sources, the program is able to put together care plans from respite to personal care. AV Home Care contracts with the City for Medicare covered home care. As of September, North Woods Home Care ended their contract and hired their own LNA’s. Councilor Remillard asked if this has had a financial impact on the organization and Ms. Sullivan indicated that the change only occurred in September and the effect is not yet known.
Ms. Sullivan reported that the city funding helps to keep co-pays as low as possible. Councilor Rozek entered the meeting at this time, 6:48 p.m. Mayor Grenier acknowledged that despite the organizational challenges, the agency continues to meet the needs of the community. Ms. Sullivan stated that we need to bring up the next generation of health care workers. There are a lot of opportunities to do things more effectively. She thanked the Council for the City’s contribution and for allowing her the time to present an update of her agency’s activities. Ms. Sullivan left the meeting at this time.
SNS Secure Network Services
Kevin Law of SNS Secure Network Services explained that he was asked to come up with a plan for IT for the City that looks at the whole network. The more questions he asked, the more he realized how much help is needed. SNS was started in 2003 and to accommodate business growth, in 2011 he bought a building in the Littleton industrial park. There are 13 people working at the site and 28 more people who work remotely.
SNS provides support services at a flat rate per month. They are the IT department. The gap with the City’s IT is the lack of infrastructure. Looking at what is here, almost everything is end of life. Centralizing to the server is the most efficient way to update the City’s IT. The essentials are new Office, Word and Excel and having the desk top on the server. Centralizing data makes it accessible from more locations. It is efficient, and secure.
Mayor Grenier expressed concern about security especially with Health Department HIPPA regulations and Police. Mr. Law stated that for police there are certifications and policies that have to be adhered to. There is police specific training that SNS employees will have to go through. The company has some experience with HIPPA as they do IT for North Country Home Hospice. Any and all work is recorded for a HIPPA audit trail and the firewall is controlled by application.
Mayor Grenier stated that he does not want to be in a perpetual situation of upgrading. Mr. Law commented that he understands budgets and can work within them. Councilor Rozek mentioned that the US Postal Service was hacked and the personal information of employees was compromised. He asked what will be done to protect us. Mr. Law replied that the implementation of guidelines such as using antivirus; having a domain, using mal ware, having individual logins, making password changes every 90 days; and installing updates does everything possible to prevent the system from being compromised. The server sets the tone for the process and all mal ware, and antivirus is installed to the server which applies it to all terminals. SNS can’t protect against everything but the can
put systems in place that will make a breach less likely.
Councilor Rozek asked how long the response time is and Mr. Law said that 95% of calls are answered right away and staff is prepared to answer the questions. If the call has to be returned, it is handled by priority. Mayor Grenier asked for a semiannual report. Mr. Law noted that there will be four planning meetings per year. He is also willing to give an overview to the City Council as needed. Mayor Grenier asked what happens if we want to get out of the contract. Mr. Law indicated that the service contract can be terminated with a 30 day notice. He added that most of the cost is in up front purchases of hardware that the city will own.
Councilor Higbee commented that he likes the proposal. He asked what training there would be for end users. Mr. Law stated that it is a one on one conversion to the virtual desk top. Councilor Higbee asked if there is someone close by that would be able to respond to an emergency call. Mr. Law replied that there will be two boxes (servers) that have the capacity to back each other up; and most service can be done remotely. Councilor Higbee asked if the City and PD have the band width needed. Mr. Law said yes and he added that the City has the infrastructure in place for a wireless mesh network which has gone defunct. Bringing it back to life one site at a time has been discussed. The current budget for Internet use may be enough to do this work.
Ms. Laflamme indicated that the hope is to have the systems in place by January 1. CISCO came back with an interest rate of 3.5% which is 2% lower than originally quoted. There is enough money in the budget for 6 months in this fiscal year as well as for the maintenance contracts for the city and PD.
Mayor Grenier made it clear that there will be a capital project of between $65,000 and $70,000 in the next two years and $35,000 in the third year. The maintenance contract at a cost of $22,000 will be an increase in cost as well.
Councilor Rozek moved with a second from Councilor Remillard to enter into a contract with SNS for the City’s IT maintenance; to enter into a lease purchase agreement with CISCO for IT hardware and to waive the bid process per Sec. 2-430 of the city code. So moved, the motion carried unanimously.
Credit Card
Mr. Wheeler gave an update to a previous agenda item about the city taking credit card payments. We were asked to research how the Water Works accepts credit card payment without adding the fee to the end user. The Water Works absorbs the fees; however the City would not be in a position to absorb fees. Councilor Rozek moved to proceed with accepting credit card payments with the user paying the credit card fee; Councilor Theberge seconded and the motion carried
CDBG
Ms. Laflamme reported that there is a resolution in for first reading for AHEAD to do energy efficiency work on the Northern Lights Housing. The City would hire a consultant to administer the grant and we would be reimbursed administrative costs. Councilor Theberge asked for more information on AHEAD and Ms. Laflamme noted that they are a nonprofit focusing on affordable housing
Councilor Rozek moved with a second from Councilor Morgan Allain to go into non-public session per RSA 91-A:3 II (d) Consideration of the acquisition, sale or lease of real or personal property which, if discussed in public, would likely benefit a party or parties whose interests are adverse to those of the general community. So moved, the motion carried unanimously by roll call.
Councilor Rozek moved to seal the vote until the transaction has transpired as releasing it would make the proposed action ineffective; Councilor Otis seconded and the motion carried unanimously by roll call.
Councilor Rozek moved to come out of non-public session; Councilor Morgan Allain seconded and the motion carried unanimously by roll call.
There being no further business in the work session at 8:09 p.m. Mayor Grenier moved on to the Regular meeting after a five minute recess.
Respectfully Submitted,
Susan Tremblay
Administrative Assistant
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