Present: Craig Donnan (Center for Rural Studies), Chris O'Gorman (Center for Rural Studies), Barry Isaacs (Town of Mendon, Mike Gilbar (VLCT), Jill George (VLCT), Dan Van Der Vliet (UVM), Fred Skeels (City of Montpelier)

Training. Discussion about developing training resources for municipal officials. Someone recommended Winton Goodrich (School Boards Ass'n) as a resource, since he can and has talked on a variety of topics. Mike Gilbar said that it would be a good idea to develop a consolidated training calendar that would include training opportunities from a variety of sources, such as VLCT, MOMS, TOEC, the Clerks/Treasurers Ass'n, etc. It would also be a good idea to publish certification requirements/standards in one place. Craig suggested a forms-based Web environment, where those who offer courses can update their offerings themselves. People should also be able to view content in a variety of ways. Craig distributed his draft work plan for training coordination for municipal professionals. The goals include:

• Identify common training needs among professionals or within town offices. Use existing needs assessments/training protocols. Identify short-term vs. long-term need.
• Identify service providers for the specific needs.
• Support the development of curricula for professional groups that drive training goals.
• Support the development of training/certification standards.
• Develop web-based calendar and mailing distribution. Identify organization to maintain calendar over long-term.

Craig reported on a discussion he had with John Cushing about the VMCTA meeting in December. Clerks & treasurers indicated that they would like to have more information about: an election calendar, Internet banking, ethics, accounting, policies and procedures, delinquent tax collections, getting along with difficult people, agendas and minutes, networks vs. standalone computers, software, public speaking, and how to borrow money, etc.

Mike suggested that a training Web site should include links to other organizations that offer training. Also, we can provide technology training.

Liaisons. Barry Isaacs suggested that there be a VMCTA representative in this group to provide input and to help get VMCTA members to buy-in to what the municipal technology group is trying to accomplish. Craig said he'd try to get on the agenda for their next meeting. Mike Gilbar offered to be the liaison to GFOA. Chris O'Gorman offered to be liaison to the VT Managers Ass'n. Mike and Jill will be liaisons to VLCT.

Land Use Records. Craig also talked to John Cushing about land use records. There are technology solutions worth considering, and the municipal technology group can help facilitate information gathering & sharing. John Cushing has scheduled a vendor (ACS) to give a presentation at the Milton town office on February 6^th at 10:00 AM.

Issues-Based Working Groups. Mike Gilbar said that he'd have something on the issues-based working groups for the next meeting. He will coordinate with Greg Sanford and Bill Dalton, who had expressed interest in creating these groups. They might focus on archival issues. Ideas for three working groups include:

• Standards
• Training
• Electronic recordkeeping

IT Standards. Barry Isaacs talked about his ideas for an Information Technology Standards Committee. The mission of the committee could be to foster and facilitate the

1. Training of municipal employees, broadening their technical backgrounds and increasing their exposure to computer applications.
2. Encourage the development, propagation, and sharing of computer-based applications tailored to the town hall environment with the intent of reducing workload.
3. Work with existing organizations to ensure that certification and training of municipal town office personnel reflects the demands of a technology-based environment.

His intent is to focus on towns using the PC platform. Working with various groups (VMCTA, Listers Ass'n, etc.), we could recommend a set of applications that town offices could adopt. The next step would be to facilitate training, and then encourage sharing (data, templates, etc.) between town offices. Need to think about how to encourage people to share their templates and homegrown applications.

Grants Information. Chris has included links to grants information on the CRS municipal Web site (http://crs.uvm.edu/municipal). The goal is to create a database that people could query.

Meta Database for Minutes & Agendas. Need to decide how to do it. We could create a forms-based template for minutes & specify keywords.

Technology Conference. The idea is to have four regional sessions, which would include lectures, classes, and hands-on training. We'll need locations with two computer labs. We have one portable lab that we could rent. Also would be good to have Vermont Interactive Television (VIT). Discussed possible sites. Classes would include:

• Windows Operating System
• E-mail
• Word I & II
• Applied Excel
• PC Security
• Land Use Records Management
• Best Practices in Electronic Document Retrieval
• Town Websites
• Data Communications 101
• Budgeting for IT
• Online Tax Payments

The Data Communications, IT Budgeting, and Websites classes don't have to be over VIT, since we could have presenters at each site.

The VIT classes would be: Land Use Records, Archiving, and Online Tax Payments.

Barry said that he has an outline for e-mail training.

Affiliation. Discussed whether to affiliate with another organization, such as the Vermont Institute for Government (VIG). Advantages are that VIG is non-profit, they have a training-related agenda, and they have experience. Craig said that he or Fred Schmidt would take the idea to VIG's next meeting. He will also follow-through with VMCTA to see if we can affiliate with them.

Next Steps. Craig will contact VIG and VMCTA and work on the training ideas and the e-government sessions. Mike will work with Craig on the e-government sessions. Chris will call a meeting to begin to discuss electronic records management issues, continue to gather information about grants and post it on the CRS municipal Website, and try to gather more templates. Barry will recruit people for the standards committee.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 at 9:00 AM in Montpelier (VLCT or UVM-Continuing Education conference room).