02-28-08 Meeting Minutes

St. Lawrence County
Information Technology Advisory Committee
February 28, 2008, 2:00 pm
Location: OBPA, Ogdensburg, NY

Meeting Minutes

Present: Sign in sheet handed out (Laura Perry has on file)

1. Subcommittee’s to meet - As a result of light attendance, the group decided to forgo the time allotted for subcommittee’s to meet to work on their individual efforts, and we continued with the meeting as a full committee.

2. Full Committee to convene – Committee welcomed John Rische (in Wade Davis’ absence) of the OBPA and thanked him for hosting the meeting.

3. It was mentioned that meeting minutes from the 1/24/08 meeting had been prepared and posted to the blog. No comments or changes noted.

4. Project Reports/Old Business

a. Mapping/Survey
· Laura announced that the Internet Availability survey would launch March 3, 2008. She provided hard copies of the flyer to be used to advertise the survey, along with hard copies of the survey and postage paid envelopes. She described the survey’s distribution channels, media, libraries and County DMV’s. Committee members present offered to take the surveys back to their employers and organizations for distribution. Laura will distribute an email to all committee members containing electronic copies of the survey and supporting documents.
· Jon Montan agreed to periodically check on the status of survey results as it is received on-line, and provide an interim report of progress.
· John Rische suggested that the survey be distributed at the Ogdensburg Expo. Laura agreed to contact Pattie Ritchie to inquire if this is possible.

b. Newton Falls Broadband Grant
· Laura reported that the Planning Office was waiting to hear whether the project was funded.
· Laura also informed the committee that she had provided a letter of support as chair of the IT Committee for WavHost’s application to the Universal Access Grant program.
c. Strategic Plan for Universal Broadband Coverage
· Carrie Tuttle shared reported reviewing materials from the Connect Kentucky website. She shared copies of the 2007 Progress Report, Best Practices Resource Guide, as well as Meade County’s Strategic Technology Plan. She offered these as a possible model for our group to consider as it prepares a strategic plan for its efforts. The group was receptive to this idea, agreeing that much of the work already completed by Meade County and others closely reflect the work we’d like to accomplish. The full committee agreed that this was a good start and to consider further how we might utilize this in our efforts.
· A question was raised about how the committee should engage the private providers? It was observed that providers were not present at this meeting, and their participation seems to be falling off. There was recognition that their role with the committee’s efforts is somewhat unclear. It was mentioned that their on-going participation is critical to the future success of the committee’s efforts. At what level, and how they participate, in the committee’s operations is an item to be considered as we move through the strategic planning process.

d. SLC Government Technology Projects
· Francine Perretta asked committee members for input regarding the new IT Director position. Committee members had received via email sample job descriptions from other Counties.
· Francine noted that subcommittee would meet to review the materials and take the best from the several job descriptions for review at next month’s meeting.

5. New Business
· The full committee discussed the need to revisit the attendance expectations for members of the committee. It was noted that it is difficult to make progress when a lot of time is spent reviewing information for members who are frequently absent. It was the consensus of the group that Laura should send a message to the full committee asking for members to confirm their desire to be members of the committee and to ask for more regular attendance.
· In Laura’s upcoming absence, committee members were asked to volunteer to chair the next few meetings. Chairing the committee involves preparing and distributing the agenda, preparing meeting minutes, and running the meeting discussion. Phil Deleel volunteered to chair the March 27th meeting, Francine agreed to chair the April 24th meeting, the May meeting is TBA.

6. Action Items

· Strategic planning committee will meet to review sample plans.

· SLC Gov Tec subcommittee to meet to review IT Director descriptions.

· Members to distribute information about surveys.