Minutes 02-10-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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summarized below. The Orange County Board of Commissioners' top three priorities for communications are noted in bold. 1. Hire a PIO (6 votes) 2. Expand live-streaming video of Board meetings (including possibly creating a permanent Commission meeting room in Hillsborough with full technology capabilities) (6 votes) 3. Push agenda and highlights out before and after meetings (by the following morning) (not just links to the agenda but summaries and links to more information) (4 votes) 4. Decide whether or not to use social media tools (2 votes) 5. Educate the public about how to access County information and live- streaming videos (2 votes) 6. Examine tools to reach rural citizens (2 votes) 7. Expand e-service offerings (0 votes) 8. Use technology to be clear about meeting action items (e.g. motions on screen) (0 votes) After the top three communications priorities were identified, the Board expressed an interest in seeing a breakdown on what the County and its departments currently spend on all communications. Also, when the Commissioners discussed a possible PIO implementing these priorities, such as social media, they were concerned about how some rural residents, for example, would or would not access the tools. County Manager Frank Clifton informed the Board that, should it wish, staff could begin gathering information needed to start the hiring process for a PIO. There was consensus among the Board that staff could begin this process now. 8. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLANNING • Review of Current IT Expenditures (Capital and Operating) Strategic IT Planning Consultant Shannon Tufts reviewed current information technology (IT) expenditures and noted a severe lack of staff capacity to execute projects. Orange County's IT department has approximately half of the staff and budget levels of similarly sized counties across North Carolina. The Commissioners agreed to the premise that any new technology efforts/project would require more funding for staff and technology. Ms. Tufts reminded the Board, though, that technology is just a tool where underlying business processes need to be strong before applying IT. The business processes should be subject to change so that they align with and support technologically driven changes. • Information Technology Priorities Shannon Tufts reviewed the Commissioners' IT project requests, followed by a quick overview of key departmental requests. The Commissioners assigned priority rankings to the list of all Commissioner IT project requests. The following priorities, in order of votes, were discussed as noted. 1. Improved Internet access (including Broadband) and cellular coverage (6 first-place votes)