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Minutes are not a verbatim transcription, but rather an attempt to capture the intent of the speaker by the City Clerk.
ITEM 1 - CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Murphy called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Lakewood Civic Center, 480 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood, Colorado.
ITEM 2 - ROLL CALL
Those present were: Mayor Bob Murphy, Presiding
Diana Allen
Doug Anderson
Cindy Baroway
Karen Kellen
Sue King
Debbie Koop
Adam Paul
Ed Peterson
Tom Quinn
Vicki Stack
Staff in attendance: Mike Rock, City Manager
Kevin Paletta, Chief of Police
Tom Grady, Sergeant, Patrol Division
Boris Naschansky, Director, Information Technologies
Full and timely notice of this Study Session had been given and a quorum was present.
ITEM 3 - PRESENTATION -- MOBILE DATA COMPUTERS
Kevin Paletta, Chief of Police, said tonight's presentation is to update Council on the status of the Department's Mobile Data Computers (computers in the control cars). This is a capital item that will come before Council in 2009. The presentation included information about Mobile Data Computers of the past, present and future. Police data computers differ significantly from the typical laptop-they are much more rugged, they have a life expectancy from five to seven years, they bounce around in a police car for some 200,000 miles. With the given life expectancy of said computers, we also have to acquire technologies that support what's on the horizon. He showed photos of police technology when he started with the Police Department in 1981 and said technology lasted for some 15 years. Computers were first installed in police cars and in the department in 1996. From a police standpoint, these green screen computers basically gave the officers the ability to write police reports. Officers had limited State Colorado Bureau of Investigations query capabilities, and limited records management capabilities. All of these limitations were the result of some limitations in wireless technologies in the mid-1990's and also limitations within our homegrown system. Five years ago, we went live with our new police computer system. We now have interactive computer-aided dispatch systems, which means a call is now transmitted to the officer's computer screen. We now have the capability of interacting with the radio dispatcher both via radio and the computer, and adding comments, updates, etc. to computer dispatch screens as information is developed. Additionally in our police cars, we now have access to a broad range of databases, i.e., email, LEADS (police records), mug shots, accident scene drawings, Cop Shop, Cop Link (county wide), log files, property and evidence, and policies and procedures. Net Motion encrypts all transmissions to and from cars. Currently, there are some 45 different applications that are available to the officers in their cars, and the list is growing monthly.
Tom Grady, Sergeant, Police Patrol, gave a listing of the various applications that are available to the officers on their computers in their patrol cars. I-Mobile, he said, is the computer-aided dispatch system used, and he explained how the system works for various calls and how information from dispatch appears on the computer screen in the patrol car. These new applications are constantly being utilized and have been a tremendous help to the officers.
Boris Naschansky, Director, Information Technologies, said in 2003 when the CAD and Records Software were replaced, we also replaced the mobile software and hardware. The demonstration given by Tom Grady was done on the Dell Computer, but because of the thousands of miles per year logged by the officers, we don't use the regular laptop computer. He presented a model of the computers used in the patrol cars and noted that we don't have the fastest coverage everywhere, but we do have cellular coverage. He also noted that there are other applications that Sergeant Grady did not show, i.e., aerial photography on map information to give greater detail of a specific location. Also, property evidence system has now been brought into the system. These applications take a lot more storage and works the computers a lot more than what it did five years ago. We don't know exactly what the future computer will be but in the next couple of years, we will be faced with an upgrade. When we find out what's available and match it against what we feel the needs are, we'll report back to the Council.
ITEM 4 - PRESENTATION -- ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT
Margy Greer, City Clerk, said the City Clerk's office is the custodian of all of the City's records including electronic records. She gave a brief overview of the current system and the forthcoming Electronics Records Management Initiative (ERM). The City's Records Management program includes inventory and appraisal of some 538 Record Series and its done for all City departments. We have 40 record liaisons throughout the City in different departments who assist with this. We have a retention schedule for all departments and we do annual review and revision as well as the annual disposition of City records. Any change to our established retention schedules has to be approved by the State Archivist as well as the Attorney General's Office. Anything considered long term or permanent records, prior to 2001, is maintained in a microfilm library. In 2002, Council approved Laserfiche and we currently have more than one million images on Laserfiche.
In 2007 we talked with the Information Technology (IT) Department in regards to Electronic Records Management. Some challenges were identified and they include "cradle to grave" management of electronic records; discrepancy between the electronic records and paper records processes (we can shred paper records, but what do we do with electronic records); differing processes for individual systems (the IT Department discovered some 120 software units that contain information we must manage and at the present, we're not doing a good job of it); and the lack of clarity regarding types of electronic records that need to be managed, (there's always the fear of emails--what's happening to them). We are concerned about public records. There are administrative policies in place when employees use their computers for personal/private use, etc. There's always the confusion of "What do I do with this," and the biggest confusion of all is "What is the permanent record? What's the record copy?"
It is the City Clerk's job to keep and maintain the public record. Therefore, it is our goal to develop a strategic plan that incorporates the electronic records. In that light, we formed an interdepartmental planning team to come up with a design for assessing the City's existing records. We will then need a strategic plan and roadmap for implementation of an electronics records management program for the City. We have to inventory, implement a plan and maintain it for all of the City's electronic records. Phase I of the plan is in progress and should be completed by December 31, 2008. A consultant, Fortenberry and Associates, has been hired to help in this regard by preparing a plan that will tell us how to assess our records, plan a road map for that and prove the concept by taking one of the 120 software units and prove that whatever system they suggest for us to use really works. Phase II of the project is what we've asked Council to place in the budget for next year, and a lot of this will depend on results we get from Phase I. Whatever the goals are as defined in Phase I and after the report from the consultants, we will need someone, either a consultant or a long-term employee, to make this happen, i.e. to develop the retention schedules, to identify the methods of protecting the vital records and consideration of the appropriate electronic media. There maybe a software program that could work with some of our software units, but not with others. We anticipate this to be a two-four year implementation project.
Mayor Murphy asked about the standards for retention of electronic records.
Sharon Blackstock, Central Records Administrator, said it depends on the content of the records. There are no electronic records as they (State Archivist) refer to "records series". A reporting system of some kind would be named "So-And-So Reports" that would have a certain value to the City and then given a retention period of so many years. It all depends on the content of the record.
Councilwoman Stack wanted to know the current retention period for paper documents.
Sharon Blackstock said it depends on the content of the records.
Margy Greer added that we have 538 Record Series and every one of them have different retention schedule, depending on the content, the law, etc.
Councilwoman Allen wanted examples of records that would be kept electronically and not in print.
Sharon Blackstock said one example is with payroll. When we moved to JD Edwards, a lot of the processes and types of records that were in paper, became electronic and suddenly they were in a different form and not separate like papers. So a document that had a three-year retention period was mixed in with records that have varying retention periods, and we can't get rid of the three-year ones for fear that it might impact the six year,10-year or permanent records.
Councilwoman Stack wanted to know if the federal grant to be applied for would be used to fund 2008 Phase I or II.
Margy Greer said it would not apply to either. For 2008 it is being paid through the City Clerk's Budget. Funds for 2009 have been requested in the 2009 Budget as a budget exception, and we're hoping to move forward and apply for grants for 2010 and 2011.
Councilman Anderson wanted to know how secure the system would be.
Margy Greer indicated that this would be discussed as we go forward. It will play into the same program we have now with our Laserfiche. We Laserfiche very sensitive documents that are only available to certain departments/users.
Councilman Quinn wanted to know if we would ultimately have some non-sensitive records available on line in electronic format.
Margy Greer said we're are talking about that, but we need further discussions with the IT Department in regards to putting some of our Laserfiche out on the web so persons could have access to some documents. However, most documents that the public are interested in are already on the web, i.e., agendas, resolutions, ordinances, Council packets, which are the most typical records request we receive.
ITEM 5 - PRESENTATION -- NEW PHONE SYSTEM / MUNICIPAL BROADBAND
Boris Naschansky, Director, Information Technology gave an update on the City's phone system replacement project that was funded in 2005. Although the project was funded in 2005, work was not to begin until 2007 and the implementation taking place between now and 2010. Funds set aside are pretty substantial - $1.5 million to be implemented between 2007 and 2009 with potential follow-up in 2010. We will replace a system that was installed at the City of Lakewood in the 1980's. He spoke briefly about the old system (PBX) and why we need to replace it. From IT standpoint, the system should be replaced because of the emergence of new technology, the support for the obsolete system has changed in terms of people who could maintain it. Also, PBX cannot meet City staff demands for communications and related efficiencies. The new proposed system is called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), which is used by all information systems. He described some of the capabilities/features the new phone system will provide, i.e., forwarding calls from desk phone to cell phone; set contact employee/locate employee preferences; using e-mail contact lists, directories; forward voice messages to groups; e-mail notification of missed calls; check voicemail from e-mail; video conferencing. He also mentioned communication system providers, and the hope of making a decision by the end of this month, and based on bids submitted, we should come in under budget as first forecast. A significant amount of training will also need to take place.
Councilwoman Stack asked how the new technology would affect employees on a day-to-day basis.
Mike Rock, City Manager, said the better the technology, the more work an employee can accomplish. He/she would be more reachable and can multi-task things away from their desk rather than having to come back into the office to get certain tasks done. For the majority of our employees, having information readily available without having to go back to a central point (i.e., Police Dept.) and being able to conduct business away from office (i.e. Engineers) would be very beneficial. With Blackberry/voicemail capabilities that employee can go where they need to or we can convey information to them without them having to come back to the office. Thus, the benefits to the community (citizens we serve) are substantial. Although we'll have to go through training and learn new technology, it will make us more assessable and responsive. He feels the benefits are worth the change or any drawbacks.
Councilwoman Kellen suggested it would be advantageous to do training on the more advanced features after users are more comfortable with basic training.
Councilwoman Allen commented that this proposed system is great, a good one.
Councilwoman Baroway wanted to know when the Council would go paperless. She suggested we could start with zip drives instead of paper.
Boris Naschansky said Staff would have to interact with Council on how to get this done. Some packages have been evaluated that could serve that purpose. Unfortunately, we haven't seen anything that's quite "perfect". Some other municipalities have put together custom solutions. We have and will continue to evaluate them and will update Council accordingly.
Mike Rock added that this is a topic the Council has to decide. We don't want to run three or four systems to meet everyone's taste. Whatever Council agrees to, Staff can provide what they want. He said this could be discussed further at a Study Session.
Councilwoman Allen pointed out that because of different preferences of Council Members, Staff already has to do phone mail, emails, and print.
Councilman Peterson asked if there was any technology on the horizon that would allow verbal response to emails.
Boris Naschansky said it (technology) keeps getting better every year - so it could happen.
Councilwoman Koop extended thanks to Mr. Naschansky in getting quick responses to Council when requested.
ITEM 6 - OPEN DISCUSSION
Councilman Anderson asked Chief Paletta about reports of vehicles in garages for officers being damaged.
Chief Paletta said he's not heard of any reports recently. However, there have been previous incidents where vehicles in the garage have been damaged. He's not sure if reports are from disgruntled citizens walking out of the Police Department or City Courts. One thing that Community Resources has done recently is to improve the lighting in the parking garage, and we have surveillance cameras to also assist with security. He added that from time-to-time, this issue comes up, but he will check further to make certain this is not an overwhelming concern.
ITEM 7 - REPORTS
Mayor Murphy and City Council Members reported their attendance at previous meetings and events and announced upcoming neighborhood meetings and events.
ITEM 8 - ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Council; Mayor Murphy adjourned the meeting at 8:17 p.m.
Submitted by,
Margy Greer, City Clerk
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