General Government & Information Technology

Village of Niles General Government / IT Committee Meeting Summary February 8, 2017 The following Voting Persons were in attendance: Chair George D. Alpogianis, Village Manager Steve Vinezeano, IT Director Bill Shaw and Member Cammy Fortuna. Staff present were: Hadley Skeffington-Vos, Marlene Victorine, Kathy Thake, Danielle Grcic, Steve Cusick, Cathy Spadoni, Kathy Barnat, Katy Darr, and Mitch Johnson. No members of the press or public were present. I. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 8:48 a.m. in Room 218 at the Niles Administration Building. II. Approve Meeting Summary – General Government/IT Committee – January 11, 2017 - Unanimous Approval III. Old Business a. On-Line Store Discussion The administration is strongly in favor of having promotional items as give always for both dignitaries and school groups. There is a website that the Teen Center uses that that customizes, prepares and ships Teen Center promotional items. The top items that the General Government/IT Committee is interested in promoting are pens, diner style mugs, stein style glassware, paperweights, ornaments and lapel pins. The on-line store is being further reviewed. A suggestion is to have a table at Village events with the items to sell. Pricing on small flags with the Village of Niles logo are still being looked into, the flags would be a good giveaway at the 4th of July parade. The Committee feels it is important to buy local and made in the U.S.A. IV. New Business a. Electrical Aggregation The Village’s contract with IDT Energy expires on June 1, 2017. The March FOCUS newsletter will inform residents that the electrical aggregation program is still on going and to be aware of solicitations. IDT does not go door to door, or make phone calls. The Village’s energy consultant will get preliminary pricing on alternative electric suppliers. ComEd’s rate will come out in May, at that time all pricing will be reviewed and a decision will be made to continue with the aggregation program or not. If the Village decides to stay with an aggregation program, the contract will be for only one year. A letter will be sent to the residents to inform them of the decision and the information will be in the June FOCUS newsletter. The Senior SCRAM program will be partnered with the aggregation program to help further inform the residents.  GG/IT February 8, 2017 Meeting Summary/2 b. Resolution for One Year HUB Consulting Services The HUB International (brokers for health, vision, dental and life insurance) contract will be approved at the February Board meeting and extended for one year, this will be their last year. The Village will go out to bid for all insurances for next year to include liability, health and workers compensation. The fee of $28,800 will remain the same. V. IT Project Updates IT had a meeting with staff from Covalent Performance measures software. The “golden thread management” approach is very popular in Europe and is moving towards the U.S.A. If every department does their part, we will see our goals realized, (make it to the “top of the pyramid”). Covalent has customers on the east coast and the west coast. The Village will be a model customer here in the Midwest. Covalent will give the Village some software free of charge. IT met with the Police and Public Services Departments to discuss technical issues regarding getting new squad cars wired up with new technology. A pilot program is out there with new communications that is moving forward. Research has been completed on Energov from Tyler, the new Community Development software. Community Development and IT are prepared to present their findings to the Mayor and request final approval to move forward with that project. The last of the numbers have come in for the payroll/HR software companies interviewed. An analysis is being prepared; a final recommendation should be made soon. Meetings will be set up with all five of the software companies with their local representatives, the IT Department, HR Department, Finance Department and the Chair of General Government. Fire Station 3 is back up and running and saving money with better technology. The Network Resiliency Project is now in the works. For years the IT Department has worked to enhance the network that connects all of the Village’s facilities for communications technologies. Some new techniques have been discovered to make the Village’s communication equipment at all campuses more resilient at a lower operating cost. VI. Open Discussion / Public Comment The Village Manager and Finance director are working on the budget and at this point the budget is almost balanced.  GG/IT February 8, 2017 Meeting Summary/3 No members of the Public were present for Public Comment. VII. Next Meeting – Tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 8:45 a.m. VIII. Adjournment With unanimous approval the meeting was adjourned at 9:49 a.m.