Information Services Advisory Board
MINUTES
February 21, 2007, 6:00 p.m.
Town Hall Campus
Council Large Conference Room #10035
316 N. Academy Street, Cary, North Carolina
www.townofcary.org
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m.
Present
Lee Douglas, Mark Evangelista, John Fitzpatrick, Tangie Hofer, Helen Hutchings, John Nolander, Vijay Raghavendran, Council Liaison Julie Robison, and Staff Liaisons Susan Moran and Teri Peralta
Absent
Terra Brown-Shelton, Nazi Kite and Todd McGee
Approval of Minutes
Mr. Fitzpatrick moved to approve the minutes from the January 4, 2006 meeting. Mr. Douglas provided the second and the minutes were approved unanimously.
Old/New Business
Welcome New Members
Members introduced themselves one at a time. Mrs. Robison expressed her enthusiasm for the new group noting the wide range of experience and talent they would be contributing to the board.
Mr. Evangelista reminded board members to sign the Ethics and Conflicts of Interest Guidelines document and return it to staff if they had not already done so.
Mr. Nolander nominated Mr. Fitzpatrick as Vice Chairperson for 2007. Ms. Hofer provided a second and the motion carried unanimously.
Old/New Business
2007 ISAB Goal Setting
Mr. Evangelista turned the meeting over to Ms. Moran who gave each board member a turn to bring up a topic with a brief explanation of why they felt it should be discussed, continuing around the room until each person had an opportunity to participate fully, after which the remainder of the meeting was used for prioritizing these goals.
Goals that were suggested as topics for consideration were:
i. Google
i. What’s new, what’s out there?
Ms. Robison observed that several of the goals listed were ongoing topics that might require more than one meeting to bring to completion but were more informational in nature than discussion oriented. She suggested considering a more discussion-oriented topic at each meeting while still making room on the agenda to consider any informational items that time would allow. Ms. Moran replied that it would be a challenge for staff to be prepared to discuss several topics at each meeting but indicated that the agenda could be restructured in such a way that the board would have an opportunity to monitor these other topics. The board agreed that in addition to major goals for discussion they would create a watch list for those ongoing topics.
Mr. Nolander then took a moment to draw a model of three intersecting circles that he hoped would help in the prioritizing process. He explained that three points of consideration would be 1) public interest—what the citizens of Cary are concerned about; 2) organizational capacity—determine if this is something achievable; and, 3) authorizing environment—establish if this is something Council is willing to consider. Mr. Nolander commented that topics that fall into all three of these categories, indicating by the area in which the three circles intersected, would help determine the priority given to those topics.
A discussion ensued and the board members agreed to pursue the following goals in the order listed:
1. Review Annual Communications Plan
2. MegaForum
3. Push Technology/RSS
4. Foreign Language
5. Streaming Video
6. WI-FI
7. IP Telephony
8. Information Kiosk
The board also agreed to put the following topics on a watch list:
1. Web Overhaul
2. Dynamic Message Signs
3. Traffic Management System Updates
4. 2007 ISAB Annual Report preparation
Finally, the board agreed to consider the following items as time permits:
1. Outreach to community groups
2. Inoperability of emergency services
3. Document standardization
Comments
a. Statement of Findings
Mr. Evangelista summarized by stating that the board went through an interactive process to determine our goals based on a consideration of public interest, organizational capacity, and suggestions from Council.
b. Citizen Comments
Mr. Evangelista suggested that members who wish to may do research on topics that did not make it into the priority list and prepare a short presentation to be included in member comments.
Ms. Moran stated that the Town has received good feedback on the Guide to Services brochure which was mailed town-wide this month.
Mr. Evangelista noted that by chance he met former board member Donna Bravo who was curious to know if there would be continued discussions concerning downtown WI-FI.
c. Member Comments
Mr. Nolander suggested that preparation of the 2007 ISAB Annual Report could be undertaken throughout the year to ease the process at the end of the year. Ms. Moran asked if the board would like that task added to the watch list and all agreed to do so.
Ms. Moran reminded the board that, due to the rescheduling of the February meeting, the March meeting is next Thursday. In order for all to be prepared she indicated that an e-mail would be sent with links to past candidate forums for their review. She stated she would also include a link to the Annual Communications Plan so that board members could start reviewing it as well.
Ms. Moran explained that because this is a public meeting it is subject to specific laws, one of these being that members may not deliberate outside the boundaries of a posted meeting, including via e-mail. She went on to say that e-mail communications can be used to forward information for consideration, but that any discussion of that information would have to be reserved for a posted meeting.
Administrative
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 6 p.m. in the Council Large Conference Room #10035, 316 North Academy Street, Cary, N.C.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 7:43 p.m.