|
|
||||||
Contact: Town Hall (978) 263-1116 or
Meetings: 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 7:30pm, Town Hall (Meeting Minutes)
2008 Annual Report
Members (term expiration)
| Jay Bhatia, Chair (20103) | Guillermo Chang (2012) |
| Jamie Rogers (2011) | Tim Lundy (2011) |
| Derek Wylie (2010) | Christopher Russo (2013) |
| Eric Wong (2012) | |
The process of forming the committee began in December 2000 with a variety of interested citizens gathering at town hall to determine the charter of the committee. The effort was lead by a member of the BoS (Simon Bunyard). The adhoc committee met for two months and delivered to the BoS a final draft charter for their approval. On February 26 a charter was approved.
The committee is comprised of seven members. Each member is appointed for three years (the first appointees have staggered terms of 3, 2, and 1 years). Meetings are held twice monthly on the first and third Tuesday at 7:30pm. The meetings times and locations are posted in town hall and are open to the public. Additional meetings that focus on a specific project or topic are held at other times at a mutually agreeable time to the participants.
The committee's work focus is primarily driven by the needs and recommendations of town government and its constituents. Discussions with town hall staff, the BoS, and other town committees have identified the areas of need. In addition, other requirements are ascertained through various channels such as committee hearings and surveys.
The committee has organized itself around three main areas: 1) infrastructure, 2) computer systems hardware and software, and 3) electronic town hall. A committee member is responsible in leading the effort in each of these areas. Other committee members will support that effort through specific assignments. In each of the areas the scope of work may entail, but not be limited to, general information gathering, team and consensus building, policy generation, hardware and software review, business partnerships, and communication to other committees/residents.
Infrastructure is broadly defined as that which provides for the transport of information. Examples are: telephone, cable TV, and data systems (wires, fiber, poles, etc.) located in the town's right of way (typically the roads); cell towers; wireless data towers, etc. It is the goal of the committee to see that the infrastructure within the town is adequate to provide the IT services needed by the town and that service providers are offering products that are relevant and of good value. This must be weighed against the visual and physical impacts to the town.
Our focus on computer systems hardware and software is to ensure that the applications and system platform are compatible, and hardware performance is adequate for future needs. Ease of installation, integration/compatibility of applications, networking, file sharing, protection, and maintenance are the key issues that are evaluated before any software or hardware is recommended for purchase by town departments.
The electronic town hall is an official town web site in which town related information is made available to the general public. As with most web sites it has started modestly and with time will expand to offer greater depth of coverage and more time sensitive information.
Some of the projects/activities that the committee has been working on are:
- Developing an IT master plan that will outline a strategic long term vision of IT in Boxborough.
- Understanding the technologies and their potential application to Boxborough for high speed data/voice/video service.
- Opening and continuing dialogs with high speed data and infrastructure providers. Examples are LELD/C2C, Charter Communications, Metricom, and Prospeed.
- Assisting the Planning Board in reviewing and improving the town's bylaws regarding cell tower siteing. Initiating a dialog with wireless providers (Sprint, Voice Stream Wireless and others) to understand their needs and plans for the town.
- Assisting various town departments in the selection of software and hardware for their needs.The focus is on installation, integration/sharing, and maintenance aspects. Examples are the police/fire dispatch and record management system, and the assessor's real estate and personal property software package.
- Developing an IT software and hardware inventory of the town departments. Use this as a starting point to develop a plan and methodology for future purchase and use of hardware and software.
- Assisting the town in improving its general IT capabilities such as town wide e-mail, file sharing protocols, system protection, web hosting, etc.
- Developing and launching a town web site. Assisting in the continued development of the site.
- Holding pole hearings on behalf of the BoS.
- Developing an infrastructure/right-of-way policy to guide the town in its formation of bylaws and to help define a town philosophy regarding these assets.
- Determining the cost and other implications of burying the utilities at the Town Common.
- Providing representation on other town committees/projects such as the Blanchard Tech Committee and the GIS project.
- Taking over the responsibilities of the former Cable Advisory Committee after a revision of the BITCom charter in December 2007.
Web Policy and Legal Disclaimer
© 2009 Town of Boxborough, Massachusetts. Last update 7/9/2010 13:45