TOWN OF FARMINGTON
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES
Monday, January 18, 2010
356 Main Street, Farmington, NH
Selectmen Present: Chairman Paula Proulx, Gerry McCarthy, Charlie King, Gail Ellis and Joan Funk
Town Staff Present: Town Administrator Tony Mincu and Finance Administrator Pam Merrill.
Chairman Paula Proulx opened the meeting at 6:00pm.
1. Public Comment:
none
2. Review of Minutes:
A. Joan Funk motioned to accept the minutes of 12-21-09 as amended, 2nd Gail Ellis. Motion carried.
B. Joan Funk motioned to accept the non-public A minutes of 12-21-09, 2nd Charlie King. Motion withdrawn to discuss in non-public tonight.
Charlie King motioned to table the non-public minutes review to the non-public portion part of tonight’s meeting, 2nd Joan Funk. Motion carried.
C. Joan Funk motioned to accept the public minutes of 12-28-09 as amended, 2nd Charlie King. Motion carried with Joan Funk abstaining.
D. Joan Funk motioned to accept the public minutes of 1-4-10 as amended, 2nd Charlie King. Motion carried.
3. Computer Systems Issues:
A. Tony reminded the Board there have been two system failures in the past six weeks with the current provider, Covisia. The first was with the sonic wall being down for the second time. When Tony sought an explanation from them as to why the sonic wall was down for so long their response was that the Town is expecting too much from them. The second failure was with the Provair server. Covisia came to repair the problem and the tech guy said the server was shot and the data was lost. Charlie took the server to his I/T guy who was able to make the repairs to get it running until Farmington Computers could install two new hard drives. The Town is currently paying Covisia $15,000 for their service. Also, Covisia has recommended replacing the three
servers the Town currently has with one server at approximately $14-16,000. The current servers are six years old and the industry standard is 3-4 years.
Due to the dissatisfaction with the Covisia Tony approached another local provider to come in and assess our systems. They suggested having them host our servers at their site and we would access them via the internet so that the Town would have no hardware/software on site. This is a popular, normal service they provide for hospitals, municipalities and such. Their fee is $6400 annually with a $3000 one time set-up fee. Tony did a background check on the company and all the reports were good.
Charlie asked what services Covisia was supplying for the $15,000. Tony replied network maintenance and tech support with no individual computer repairs or support. Charlie asked if the proposed provider offers support for the connection to their site only and Tony said yes. Charlie then asked if there is a renewal date for the Covisia contract and Tony said yes, it was 1/1/10 but he hasn’t told them either way yet. Charlie asked if the Town has the appropriate lines for the proposed change to the system and Tony said yes, we have a T1 line through Metrocast. Charlie asked what applications would be running through this set-up and Tony said Vadar, Provail and Manatron. Charlie followed up by asking how the individual PCs software will be handled and Tony said
they would stay in place as is. Charlie asked if the proposed system is for 10 concurrent users and Tony said yes, ten at a time. He then asked what they are stating they will supply for equipment as far as size and speed. Tony said we would have a dedicated server that would meet our current and projected needs if we were to add something like GIS files. Charlie asked what the fax line quoted at $420 is for and Tony replied he was unsure but he would look into it. Charlie stated that if the only on-site service is for connectivity it might make more sense to contract more locally for this support plus individual computer tech support.
Gail asked if it would be feasible to purchase our own servers and back up the information. Joan replied the Town used to do that and should really keep the storage off-site. Charlie asked if the T1 line goes down will the tax collector registry office be shut down. Tony said he talked with them about that and if the T1 line goes down it won’t matter where the server is because the systems will go down but over the past two years the T1 line hasn’t been down for more than one hour. Charlie asked what Kathy Seaver’s opinion of the proposal was and Tony replied she is in favor of the change and helped with the investigations. Charlie asked if the local machine maintenance was removed from the contract what would happen to the cost and Tony said he would ask.
Gail asked what the website hosting for $240 is for and Paula added that it looks like it is for access from home for the staff. Gail replied she is uncomfortable with access outside the workplace. Charlie commented he shares the same concerns. Tony replied the Town can limit the access to a specific IP address. Charlie stated he does not feel bound to renew the Covisia contract and the Town should let it lapse. Tony responded that he believes some of their equipment is here. Charlie stated the Town needs a list of what equipment is theirs so we can identify our needs. Tony said he believes it is just a hi-speed switch. Gail commented that one reservation she has with the proposed contract is in the termination section where it says if we are not happy with
their service we have to stay with them for 60 days after written notice. She commented that she would be more amendable to 30 days and Paula and Charlie agreed. Tony will seek the answers to the questions raised tonight and the Board will revisit the discussion.
4. Economic Revitalization Zone:
A. Gerry McCarthy motioned to agree to the designation of the Economic Revitalization Zone for R20-34 which is approximately 123 acres, 2nd Gail Ellis. Discussion followed in which Paula asked how this will affect the taxes of the lot. Tony said it will not affect the Town owed taxes at all and will only affect the business taxes. Charlie pointed out that under the Frequently Asked Questions section it says it will likely result in the reduction of the delinquent tax rate. Gerry said the last time he spoke with administrator for the property he said the Town would be paid the taxes in full. Joan commented that this change only gives potential new business owners the ability to apply for a business tax break.
Tony commented that he assumed the area would be designated under A as a Brownfield and Kathy Menici explained to him that this change would not affect real estate taxes. Charlie King offered a friendly amendment that the lot meets the criteria of being designated as a Brownfield and Gerry McCarthy and Gail Ellis accepted the amendment. Motion carried.
5. Other Business:
A. Gail asked if the Police and Fire Departments updated their budgets and Tony said yes, they each cut approximately $10,000 from their budgets. In the Fire Department most of the cuts were from the on-call line and in the Police budget most of the cuts were from the salary line because of the new hire.
B. Paula asked if the cruiser cameras are all in and Tony said he believes so.
C. Paula asked if the PD got the new cruiser and if so the next oldest vehicle should be available to move around in the Town. Some discussion was held earlier that the oldest vehicle would go to the Code Enforcement Officer. Tony will follow-up as to the availability of the oldest PD vehicle.
At 7:34pm, Joan Funk motioned to go in non-public session under RSA91A.3.II (a) and (e), 2nd Gail Ellis. Roll Call – Paula Proulx (yes), Gail Ellis (yes), Gerry McCarthy (yes), Charlie King (yes) and Joan Funk (yes).
At 9:09 the Board came back into public session.
6. Other:
A. The Board received a request for Facilities Use for a carwash/bake sale for a school group on 5/1/10. The Board requested more information as to what group is involved with this event.
B. It was noted that 10 hours need to be cut from Kathy Seaver’s budget because those hours are no longer in that department now that Barbara is not working for Kathy. Tony will clarify this.
Joan Funk motioned to adjourn, 2nd Charlie King. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 9:19pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Brandy Sanger
Recording Secretary
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Chairman, Paula Proulx Vice-Chairman, Gail Ellis
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Gerry McCarthy Charlie King
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Joan A. Funk
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