HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-07-06 - City Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes5811 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE a TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321
TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900
July 5, 1983
NOTICE OF WORKSHOP N=ING
CITY COUNCIL
TAMARAC, FLARIUA
Please be advised of a Workshop Meeting to be held on Wednesday, July 6,
1983 at 10:30 A.M. in the West Conference Room of City Hall to receive
administrative input relating to the request to upgrade the Central
Processing Unit of the Data Processing System.
The participants in the Meeting are Councilmen Philip Kravitz and
Jack Stelzer, City Mawger Laura Stuurmans and Finance Director Steve Wood.
The Public is invited to attend.
Marilyn BerthoI i
City Clerk
CITY OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA
CITY COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE WORKSHOP MELTING ON COMPUTER
UPGRADE
July 6, 1983
Fape CALL TO ORDER: C/M Kravitz called the Workshop Meeting to order on
1 Wednesday, July 6, 1983, in the West Conference Room. The purpose of
the meeting was to receive administrative input relating to the request
to upgrade the Central Processing Unit of the Data Processing System.
ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Councilman Philip B. Kravitz
Councilman Jack Stelzer
Laura Z. Stuurmans, City Manager
Steve Wood, Finance Director
ALSO PRESENT: Vice Mayor Helen Massaro
Marilyn Bertholf, City Clerk
Craig Turok, Data Processing Manager
Jeff Chorba, Microdata Representative
C/M Kravitz asked Mr. Wood if this new upgrade were approved, would
there be room for unforeseen applications and Mr. Wood said this would
be highly expandable. C/M Kravitz said the main concern of Council was
why, after such a short period of time, it is necessary to spend
$130,000 to upgrade the computer system when the auditor's survey
indicated that the system would be adequate for a least 5 years. The
City Manager said that although there was a study made by the auditing
firm and they projected a 5 year period of usefulness of the equipment
procured 2 years ago, it is because the City has been able to make
advances and add onto the system at a faster pace than they believed
possible.
Steve Wood said that from a matter of economics, it would not be wise
to continue at this point without an upgraded system. He said the
auditors probably did not anticipate that this City would progress on
the computer as they have by upgrading the memory, adding more terminals
and, as anticipated for this coming fiscal year, they will upgrade the
disc drive. Mr. Wood explained that when this auditing survey was made,
the City had no Data Processing staff on board and there was no way to
determine the anticipated productivity. Mr. Chorba explained that the
City of Coral Springs has 5 people on their Data Processing staff and
they have not developed 1/5 of Tamarac's programs with the exact same
computer. He said if they progressed at the speed of Coral Springs,
it would take 5 years to reach Tamarac's present position.
C/M Stelzer said he feels the expenditure of $130,000 would be an
investment into a computer system that would be a helpful addition for
the City. C/M Kravitz asked Steve Wood if he feels this upgrade would
be sufficient for another 5 years and Mr. Wood said it would. He said
126 terminals could be hung from the Sequel and this would only be
reached if the population advances beyond 60,000 people. C/M Kravitz
asked if this machinery would be obsolete and Mr. Wood said this is a
hi -tech field and it depends on the needs involved. He said this
projected upgrade is a 32 byte processor and the present system is an
8 byte processor. lie said this machine can process information 5 to 9
times faster than the current system and he believes this would be most
sufficient.
C/M Kravitz asked if this machinery were available on a rental basis
and Mr. Wood said no, there is no benefit for a municipal government
to rent equipment as tnere is no tax advantage and the cost 7s greater.
Mr. Wood said the alternative to upgrading the computer system would be
a first year cost to the City of between $92,000 and $97,000 which would
be the continuation of two Accounting Clerk I positions that he proposes
to eliminate in the Finance Department at $32,000. He said
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/pm
a night Data Processing Operator would have to be hired to process the
utility billing system at an estimated cost of $25,000 with benefits.
He said the upgrade of the disc drive, which was proposed for next
year, is $30,000 and $5,000 is projected for the proposed fire inspection
fee _coll_er_.tinn_sPrvir_e. Wa .said this totals $o2nnn Mnd th4 S ---- A
year would be a continuation of the $32,000 for the two Accounting
Clerk I positions, $25,000 for the night Data Processing Operator and
$5,000 for the proposed fire inspection fee collection service and a
continuation of the Fiscal Assistant to handle Developer Agreements,
at a total cost of $68,0nn.
C/M Kravitz asked if the new equipment were purchased, would a service
contract be needed for the first or second year and what cost would be
involved. Mr. Wood said there is an annual additional maintenance
cost of approximately $6,400. C/M Kravitz asked if this would be a
constant figure or would increase yearly and Mr. Chorba said it would
not be raised more than 10% each year. C/M Stelzer asked Mr. Wood if
the projected new programs (See Attachment) were installed, would the
potential be absorbed and Mr. Wood said no, if all of the Police Crime
Incident Reporting System and Police Data Dispatch were put in,it would
probably take up all of the existing disc drive and they would have to
add an additional disc drive unit. Mr. Chorba said the third unit would
tnen oe at $17,0U0. mr. wood said they would have to expand at that
point just 'or additiona' eisc drive for storage media because the Police
Crime Incident Reporting System is so large.
Mr. Chorba explained that each unit is 128 mega bytes of disc and they
can be added on as needed. He said the system will go in with 257 mega
bytes of disc with 1,000 mega bytes as being the expandability of the
Sequel system, therefore, there should be no need to expand. C/M
Kravitz asked how much money the City would be required to spend for
this upgraded equipment and Mr. Wood said he is asking that Council
authorize an expenditure of up to $130,000 coming from the Capital
Reserve Fund or the Federal Revenue Sharing Fund. C/M Kravitz questioned
the possibility of obtaining a grant from the State for Data Processing
purposes and Mr. Wood said he is not aware of any grant money available.
V/M Massaro said she understands the value of departmental computer
information but questioned the value of all the proposed applications
Tape in daily use. C/M Stelzer questioned why the Data Processing was
2 allocated to all of the various departments instead of directly to the
Data Processing Department and Mr. Wood said there will be a budget
presented after the General Fund which will be the Central Services D.P.
Mr. flood said the 15 Proposed Applications listed were suggested by
other departments as useful and he reviewed the Developers Agreements
that are already , on the computer as billing of the guaranteed revenues
and interest on CIACs. He said they do not have an interface of all
the information that deals with developers concerning engineering, the
Project Number, the Planning Department's input, etc., a data -base of
information so that all departments can access one file via the computer.
Mr. flood stated the Police Crime Incident Reportinq System primarily
produces reports that the Police are required to file with the State of
Florida and this allows them to monitor various types of crimes, burglar
alarm break-ins, etc. The City Manager said it allows the monitoring
of repetitive causes of vehicular accidents and the County is moving
towards looking to the cities supplying them with that information. Mr.
Wood said the input of information must be a cooperative effort from all
departments in order to completely develop a true picture on the computer.
The City Manager said the Mayor has raised three areas of concern:
I. The use of terminals. She asked Craig Turok how many terminals
there are in the City presently and whether the use of those
terminals complicate the situation enough to change the problems
existing. Mr. Turok said there are 28 terminals presently and Mr.
Wood said the terminals attached to the system that are of casual
use would not affect the situation at all. He said there will be
terminals added in the Police Department and the City Clerk's
office.
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/pm
2. Is "spooling" being used? Mr. Chorba said the way that Microdata
is set up now there is no choice but to use spooling for input and
output.
3. Whether or not there is a plan of action for uses put on an up-
graded CPU: the 15 proposed applications listed are just some
of those possible. The City Manager said there are a number of
routine functions that would be applicable. The City Clerk said
she envisions putting Council minutes on the word processor along
with a number of other things and she felt the potential is
limitless. She said Data Processing has just completed a program
indexing the Minutes from 1963 to the present but this cannot be
implemented until the CPU is upgraded.
C/M Kravitz asked the City Manager to pursue the possibility of
receiving grants for the Data Processing functions of the Police
Department and she said she would follow this through.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 A.M.
ssistant City Clerk
This public document was promulgated at a cost of $ &V, $4� or $ - /
per copy, to inform the general public and public officers and employees about
recent opinions and considerations by the City Council of the City of Tamarac.
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N
ATTACHMENT - Vorkshop Meeting-'7/6/83'- Data Processing System
APPLICATIONS CURRENTLY RUNNING
ON SYSTEM
1. .Fund Management (Financial System)
Z. Utility Billing System
3. Payroll
A. Purchasing
5.. Fire Dispatch and Information System
6. Wordmate (Word Processing)
7. Occupational License System
8. Time Stamp System (Letters of Credit, Model Sales Fees, $tc.)
9. Personnel System
10. Miscellaneous Accounts Receivable System
A. Developers Accounta.Receivable
B. General Escrow Liability
11, Property Management System
PROPOSED APPLICATIONS
j.
1.
Police Crime Incident Reporting System
2,
Police Computer Aided Dispatch System
3,
Financial Spread Sheet (Easycalc)
A.
Inventory System (Implementation taking place on shop parts)
5.
City Clerk Document Index System
6.
Developers Agreement Information System (Master File Module
has already been implemented)
7.
Fleet Maintenance System
S.
Project/Time/Personnel Management System
9.
Gasoline Pump Usage Control System
10.
City Engineer Project Information System
11.
Investment Tracking System
12.
Personnel Employee Application Index System
�13.
City Grants Monitoring System
14.
City Manager Informational Index System
15.
Building Department Permit and C.O. System