MEETING SUMMARY
"Priorities for E-Government / Municipal I.T. in Vermont"

Date: 12-11-02
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Place: Central VT Chamber of Commerce, Berlin

In Attendance
(from around the table…)

Hank Lambert
Vermont Local Roads

Mike Gilbar
Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT)

Jill George
VLCT

Ryan Labbe
Gov. Elect Jim Douglas' Transition Team

Pat Urban
VT State Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Bob West
CIO's Office

Peter Brownell
VT Dept. of Education

Kim Zaletta
UVM Extension / CRS

Gretchen Saries
Senator Patrick Leahy's Office

Chip Sawyer
Center for Rural Studies (CRS)

Meaghan Murphy
CRS

Jessica Alexander
Jericho Town Clerk

Juli Lax
Huntington Town Clerk

Gregory Sanford
Vermont State Archives

Bill Dalton
VT Deputy Secretary of State

Jane DiLena
Vermont Technical College Technology Extension Division

Carl Rogers
Barre Town Manager

David Brotzman
Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI)

Jack Hoffman
Vermont Broadband Council

Janice St. Onge
VT Dept. of Economic Development

Steve Lotspeich
Waterbury Community Planner

George Malek
Central VT Chamber of Commerce

Introduction: Chip Sawyer gave an introduction and review of priorities that came out of this meeting last year (available at http://crs.uvm.edu/egov/mit/011127minutes.htm), the main area identified being training for municipal officers.

Comments:
Mike- We need training's that respond to a variety of different levels of skills. We should know generally where each municipal govt. is technologically and work from there.

Juli- Perhaps a survey of towns skill levels and resources would be a good way of identifying computer competency.

Jane- VTC is finishing a needs assessment survey of towns for VLCT on a variety of issues and the findings may be helpful in this area.

Current Activities:
Participants each gave a summary of relevant activities going on that are of interest to the group.

Hank, VT Local Roads- This year there was a roads inventory. There are aprox. 35 people now on a listserv, a good network tool for communicating. Not a lot of resources currently available. Discussed the need to put more than information on municipal web sites – more than just updates of meetings and minutes was a suggestion. Some IT development is taking place with in the state road crews-sensors installed within pavement to assist in road condition identification- information could then be immediately put on website for consumer information.

Mike/Jill, VLCT- Work collaboratively with a variety of the organizations here on initiatives and increasing awareness and application of different resources. They are investigating the possibility of group purchases on large ticket items (hardware and software) to make such available to smaller municipalities. Additionally, they are looking into a wireless initiative being instituted by the League of Okalahoma Cities. Also, VLCT contributed to the Municipal E-Government Mini- Conference in May of 2002 and are working with CRS on the 2003-2004 conference.

Ryan, Gov. Elect Douglas- Representing transition team for Gov. Elect Douglas, and will be working on technology policy and economic development. Here to listen.

Pat/Bob, VT CIO- The biggest development since the meeting last year is the construction of the state website (www.vermont.gov) - bridging gap of seeing info and using info online. Collaborated with New England Interactive Initiative of NIC. They are going live with credit card payments for motor vehicle registration renewals online within the next few weeks. This payment engine and framework is a huge step for e-govt. and they are talking with the income/business tax dept about further collaboration and application. The website contains metatag builder software as well as webdesign templates that might be of interest to municipalities. Municipalities may also be able to buy in to the credit card engine. Asked if Bill Dalton has anything to add…

Bill Dalton- Using the website as a successful model to promote dissemination of e-govt. at other levels. Good feedback on having payment options include IDR (Interactive Digital Response) allowing people to pay using a touch-tone phone-addresses the issues of digital divide and makes services available to more people. The website also is designed to help consumers/users deal with state government in a way that doesn't require high levels of knowledge of its bureaucratic structure. Cost effectiveness is key.

Peter, VT DOE- Mentioned that MUNINET listserv membership has surpassed 200. Discussed the Interactive Learning Network and proposed looking further into having municipal officials use this resource. ILN is similar to VIT, but is located in some 66 school sites throughout the state and is presently being financially supported for a 5 year period through Verizon, however, we are now in year 4 of this funding cycle. The sustainability and fee structure for supporting this tool were identified by Jack Hoffman as issues to consider. Peter brought up it had been suggested it would cost between $8-10,000 for each site.

Gretchen, Leahy- Confirmed the Senator's support for I.T. projects. Looking into funding to support broadband provision. Here to listen.

Chip/Meaghan, CRS- Working on an online resource for housing data. Coordinated the Electronic Records Management Working Group: produced computer data safety and security plan for municipalities and identified statewide priorities. Summary was given on last year's e- govt. mini-conference. Comments about low attendance included perhaps not doing it at the end of the fiscal year or on a Friday/ holiday weekend as well as advertising applied uses of the workshop and program training for the next EGOVT Conference proposed for End of 2003, early 2004. CRS is working with VLCT on the conference under the advise of the Municipal Information Technology Committee. Open invitation to all meeting participants to collaborate with conference or to join the committee.

Jessica, Jericho- Brought up issues of published vs. public records. There is concern over how much to release on a website and how secure it is. Fee structure issues need to be examined in order to address many municipal e-government initiatives.

Juli, Huntington- Huntington's public record access online is a real issue of concern and debate. Created a database for taxes, voters, and dog licenses using spreadsheet applications. It is important to spread awareness on the applications of software alternatives. Jack noted that similar issues are being faced by family court as they address whether or not to put these public record documents online. It was brought up that in Florida courts what is public on paper is public info for the web and perhaps we should research what other states are doing.

Juli plans to continue using MS Access to create databases, as she finds this software more user- friendly than the standard software being used by town offices. She shared it was not as "scary" as many believe and she would encourage branching out to this software. She is looking forward to putting land records on CD.

Gregory, Archives- is working on providing more and more electronic files to be made available on line. Identified I.T. disaster response and a broad approach working with the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance, FEMA, etc. He has "Vermontized" part of a Minnesota system to work through the lists/risk analysis/cost analysis.

Bill Dalton- Legal Issues such as digital signatures were brought up. Records and technology have issues of transmission and storage that need to be addressed also.

Jane, VTC- is working with DET and workforce Development centers to provide licensing for plumbing and heating workers. Additionally, they are working with DET on a Dept of Labor grant for e-learning called Blackboard. Also they are collaborating with VLCT on a training needs assessment for municipal officials.

David, VCGI- is working with the Regional Planning Commissions. They have completed municipal mapping guidelines for digital parcel date. Templates are available. The plan is for a January upgrade of the data on their web site to provide easier use of the geographic data.

Jack, Broadband- is working with Chris Campbell with the Vermont Dept. of Public Service and the office of Senator's Leahy and Jeffords to look for federal dollars to fund next years projects. They are trying to expand availability of broadband in the state. Provision of tech support is needed for business and individuals. They wish to coordinate efforts within this industry.

Janice, Econ. Devt- Working to increase community awareness and capacity around technology and specifically broadband. Believes that municipal govt. can help foster technology use and can be role models to their communities for application and development. Recommends using the technology information resources at the www.thinkvermont.gov website. An e-posting site for RFP's is successful.

Steve, Waterbury- Talked about Waterbury's website and identified some challenges such as keeping it current. Reiterated the wide disparity between municipal I.T. needs and resources. Staff time as well as financial resources are two major constraints to accessing training right now. Emphasized that basic and practical IT skills are still needed as well as state support to encourage records and mandates.

George, CV Chamber- Emphasized the role of the chamber as a meeting place and network builder. The e-government resources available at the Chamber support business as well as other economic development activities.

Priorities and Goals: Meeting participants began to filter out, due to time constraints but we were able to pull out some priorities (and immediate goals) to add to the list from the 2001 E-Government meeting.

Priorities:

1) Continue and capitalize upon meetings like this one.
Goals to help accomplish this:
Another annual meeting – maybe sooner? CRS / Municipal I.T. Cmte. could take the lead on this again.
Maintain contacts, identify shared resources/agendas and create opportunities to collaborate. 2003-04 E-Government Conference would be one such opportunity.
Use a listserv. CRS manages an E-Govt listserv (egov@list.uvm.edu) that could be re-invigorated. We will contact everyone in 2003.

2) Broadband provision in every municipal office.
Goals to help accomplish this:
Identify "E-Champions" (businesses and municipal government) for public awareness piece - models with documented process, benefits, and drawbacks of using broadband. Broadband Council and Dept. of Economic Devt. are working on this. CRS and VLCT plan to address it at the next Municipal I.T. Committee meeting.

3) Identify any legal issues that may stand in the way of municipal e-government. Work with Legislature to pave the way for municipal e-government to succeed.
Goals to help accomplish this:
Develop an overarching agenda. Need to maintain the dialogue, seek consensus on the issues, put together a strategy. Link municipal e-government and I.T. to the economic engine of the state. Could use e-govt listserv to facilitate this.
Start with the Governor's Office to garner support. Target technology policy. Broach the subject with the Government Operations Committees. Lobbying from VLCT?
A couple issues could be acted on now. VT Clerks' and Treasurers' Association has been addressing computerized land records. Municipal use of online credit card engine and digital signatures should be addressed soon as well. Some VT towns already support online credit card payments. VT Secretary of State's office has been exploring digital signatures.

4) Build relationships (technological support especially) between business/private sector and municipal government projects.
Goals to help accomplish this:
Develop project ideas for grants that could bring sectors together with e- government and broadband provision. Municipal I.T. Committee has discussed this.

5) Common access to databases and data integration at the municipal level should not be at the bottom of the priorities list (from last year). VCGI and CRS have seen renewed interest in database issues for municipal officers. The exploration of shared information sources helps municipalities address I.T. issues, share data resources and responsibilities, and build the foundation for e-government, GIS, etc.
Goals to help accomplish this:
Training for municipal officers on creating, managing, and sharing databases. VCGI and CRS have been active in this.
Identify software packages that enable data integration.
Identify municipalities that are using integrated databases and use as models. They can be "mentors" to other towns. What basic standards can we extrapolate from their successes and mistakes?

Another goal:

6) CIO's office is committed to enabling municipal use of the state credit card engine.