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•Increase inspectors' efficiency <br />•Sharing essential data across departmental boundaries <br />•Saving staff time <br />•Saving money <br />•Environmental savings through less paper usage <br />•Increased Citizens' safety <br />•Improved customer service <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is proud of this and he takes full responsibility for <br />asking the staff to come and make this presentation. He said that this all started in December <br />when he was watching a program on television about New Orleans where the building <br />inspectors were given a gift of ruggedized laptops and were able to pull a satellite photo of what <br />New Orleans looked like before Katrina and after. A few days later he saw someone from <br />Piedmont Electric with a ruggedized laptop. This prompted him to talk with the staff about <br />making this presentation. This will remove duplication of services and save the County money. <br />There are similar issues with environmental health. He said that if they are not utilizing <br />technology to the maximization of efficiency and saving staff time and money, then they are not <br />part of the 21St century. <br />He wants to highlight people that are saving the County money. He recognized Dan <br />Bruce far this proposal. <br />Commissioner Foushee said that the key word is efficiency, and other departments <br />would benefit from this. She asked about air cards and if these would be used to transfer the <br />data. Susan Mellot said that Information Technology does not have that capability yet, but they <br />would like to move in this direction. Commissioner Foushee would like to support them in this <br />request. <br />Commissioner Carey said that he supports this. <br />Chair Jacobs asked if the Chapel Hill Police Department uses this and Commissioner <br />Foushee said yes. Susan Mellot said that they have a Panasonic Toughbaok. <br />Chair Jacobs asked where the funding would come from for the laptops and Susan <br />Mellot said that they feel they will have additional revenue that they did not project this year. <br />John Link said that they recommend continuing to look at this from a capital perspective <br />as to how to fund the hardware for the Inspections department. He would also like to look at <br />how to find funding for hardware for EMS, Environmental Health, etc. <br />Chair Jacobs would like to explore usage of wireless communications and to reorder the <br />Information Technology priorities. He also thanked staff far their willingness to improve service <br />to the public and he thanked Commissioner Halkiotis. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to <br />receive the report as information; direct the Manager and staff in concert with Commissioner <br />Halkiotis to conduct further assessment of this project (to integrate it with similar initiatives in <br />other departments to ensure compatibility of software and efficiencies in data capture and <br />creation of a shared database); and direct the Manager to incorporate funding within the <br />Information Technology project of the 2006-16 Capital Investment Plan far the best way to <br />implement this undertaking. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />8. Public Hearings-NONE <br />9. Items for Decision--Regular Agenda <br />