Information Technology Committee - Regular Meeting

I shall call this meeting of the graft and it committee to order at 7:00 on February 5th 2025 begin with a roll call of the members Amar Clark here Bob Carol yeah Bob's here Bob hinger I'm here and I'm pretty sure Dave Robbins is here too looks that way so following our agenda our first agenda item as always is public input we do not have any Zoom attendees but if any of the four of us has anything to bring to the committee's attention that would qualify as public input now would be the time so um did you guys get the email I sent about the um M protocol yes yeah um so that would just be one thing um was it clear did you understand what I was getting at I understood it okay and oh for the um encrypted Communications https for the website yeah yes I understood that right and the fact that um I I didn't do an exhaustive test but I just happened to notice if you sign up for the alerts right all the alerts come through and they're all the links embedded in there are all HTTP so I I would venture to say that that's probably something we should bring to the attention of our local website administrator that would be William probably safe to say we should bring that to the attention of William and Evan and between the two of them I

mean Evan will surely delegate the followup on that to you William or whoever else might need to be involved but right I'm sure it's um either they embedded the links in there um in that manner or there's a setting or something you know so it's yep probably just a configuration thing and it's got to be a setting because it because the um the website works just fine with https right and if you look at and did you guys subscribe to those do you get those uh I get some of them yes I get some yep right so if you look in in ones that um uh try to find one oh here yeah so the ones I got for the it committee and it's coming out of the list serve at Civic plus.com for um it committee minutes in that in that notification I can share my screen and show you but it you know trust me it's there um they're all just straight HTTP so it's must it may be the sub system or whatever they're using for this list serve to push these things out that that's probably I would go to start I think that's unacceptable yes no for anybody who's keeps track of watch out on the web watch out for what's going on um well it certainly does not you know make us come off as um professionals right for a town and um you know it doesn't have the Polish and fit and

finish it should it's kind of an amateurish so yeah these these days you should expect pretty much everything to be https right and generally there's a set I mean on a website you can set it so that it'll redirect HTTP queries to https right so it'll just flip it over automatically the the these are coming from the source yeah the list are yeah because it's embedded in the email as such yeah so yeah so that's the issue is the the the links I mean you could you could also explore whether whether links on the website are consistently H gtps but they pretty much should be since the website you start out as https but it's yeah yeah I poked around a little bit and it looks like the website's fine yeah yeah it's you just navigate around there but um these and I did look up the SE and they have a valid SE so that's good it's right it's the links that they send out their automated emails that you know you you see an issue with right yeah and and yes there I would expect that the system the Civic plus system should be perfectly capable of sending all those out as https if they aren't uh then we should have a different service yeah that that that by by by any modern day thinking and this is not new to this year you this this has been the thinking for at least several years now that if you can't do https if you don't do https consistently that's really you bad form well at least whatever you want to call it yes so shall we shall we vote to take this up as an emergency item since

it wasn't inest anticipated then we can make a motion to uh address this concern to the Town Administrator I think I just heard a motion you did Al second moved in seconded that this topic be taken up as an emergency item was not not reasonably anticipated by the chair in time for put on the agenda any discussion of the motion hearing none Mr hassinger hi Mr Clark I Carol Carol's I Mr Robbins votes I okay I move that the uh chair communicate this to the Town [Laughter] Administrator or William should go to William right no communicate it to the Town Administrator and William moved and seconded did I who did I hear second I think maybe Omar and Bob Carol both were competing to get the second I think Omar seconded y all right mov to Second any further discussion hearing none Mr Jinger hi Mr Clark hi Mr Carol Carol's I Mr Robbins votes I motion carried unanimously I will forward this communication tomorrow to the Town Administrator and staff any other public input hearing none next agenda item is an update from the Town Administrator I did ask Evan if he had anything for us tonight he said he wouldn't be able to

attend the meeting uh the one thing he wanted to call to our attention is he said the duo multiactor authentication is complete excellent he didn't have anything else for us but he thought we should know that and unfortunately if we had questions about it we can't ask him tonight do does anyone here um have an account no on any resources no so we can't verify that um independently far as I know none of us have an account with the town Al righty so our next agenda item is it policy I had asked William if he could come to the meeting tonight because at at our last meeting Evan did say that he wanted to kind of let William take take the lead on the policy work from his the from his office's perspective and uh had a brief communication with William he's kind of wondering uh what we're planning to do but he wasn't able to make but uh yeah I did tell willing I Dutch face with him after our meeting so we can talk about it so we've been kind of assuming that you Evan had some specific ideas about where he wanted to go with this and Evan really has anything concrete to bring to us in our last few discussions William is just know Evan Evan passed this off to William without without really any input to William as to what William would ask us to do so we're in a position now I think we can follow up on some of our previous discussions over the last couple of years I think the last time we had

any really substantive discussion with this looking back in my my my records and my minutes here was uh de about a little over a year ago December 2023 we had some discussion at our meeting then uh at which um my notes say that Evans kind of priorities were to review and update existing it related policies and to you know start planning uh doing some infrastructure inventory and planning for updates and evolution so where we're at with and I know you know Evan provided that SharePoint and Evan and I know Bob you Bob Carol you have uploaded some stuff there a lot of a lot of you know example policies and looking at the existing Grafton policies we basically have one commun computer information and resources policy from last updated September of 2021 and that was updated we have in in my records from our past it committee work I have a version of that from like 2007 so the 20 21 version is somewhat of an update uh we also have a social media policy which arguably is sort of it related and we see that in some of the some of the collections of example policies uh include social media I do not know whether the town's Personnel handbook I'm pretty sure with Evan has said he has a personal handbook but it's I couldn't find it online so I do not know whether that contains any it related policies that are sort of specific to U Town staff but in any case so we we're kind of starting we have a

starting point of sorts with that current uh computer and information resources policy and that document I I don't know if anybody's read it recently I just refreshed my memory on it in in preparation for this meeting but that document uh covers several distinct policy topics uh um responsibilities of the Town Administrator responsibilities of departments responsibilities of users prohibited activities security Rel uh security topics from for the TA and for the employees malware shared resources and wireless access points so I'm kind of guessing that to move this work forward we can start by looking at that and looking for portions of that that could use you know could either be updated or expanded upon we might want to consider whether that document really should be several policy documents you know Evan had posted the a collection of policy documents from the town of Gren and where they cover a lot of the same territory but it's in separate policy documents you and I don't know sort of six of one half a dozen to the other but I suspect from one from one point of view it's nice to nice to have everything in one document so you can just read through it but also the larger document is and the more topic it covers the harder it might be to find what you're looking for in that document so there's there's there's also an argument to be made for sep separate policy documents and I don't know which way I haven't given it enough thought to even have a suggestion as to which way I would go uh but in any case you know there's there are several policy items within that document and and probably a good starting point for

us is to uh read through that and uh and make some recommendations for you mainly policy areas policy details in there that need to be brought up to date need to be expanded upon and at the same time we can at least Identify some policy topics that are not currently covered but ultimately should be I know Bob Bob Carol you had posted a uh an Excel sheet with a list of a whole bunch of policy topics so is it is the one you're talking about David is that in the one drive because I'm poking around in there I don't see it yeah the the town policy that's on the town web page oh not not in the one drive right it's not in the one drive it's it's on the town web page you find it uh when you go to the select boards page uh uh there's a there's a link to policies okay and so that's that's where to find it I'm I'm I'm not expecting since we're just sort of trying to uh you know kick kick the work into gear here I wasn't expecting that we would go through any of that tonight but at least uh we we can sort of come you know come to some agreement as to how we want to proceed through this since we're we're not getting the the the more specific guidance from the town ad administrator's office that I was kind of hoping he had he would he would have some more you know some more detailed ideas of where he wants to go with it but it's kind of it's kind of been thrown back into our lap so and we and we can't for for all the policy work that we've discussed all the all the topics that we've discussed in past meetings about things that perhaps ought to be addressed uh you we can't tackle it all at once but we got but we do have to start somewhere

so it was it was my thought that we could start with that existing policy document and uh and uh look look at what's in there and uh what needs to be revised and improved expanded and uh at least identify additional topics can't work on it all at once but uh ultimately we I'm sure we want to uh get more more documentation nailed down for all the topic areas that we think are important so if I may David you may so I think yeah I think that's good place to start and um with that I do see in the um one drive that from 09 um which is now you know ancient history right there is a fiveyear um it plan yes I would propose either at the same time before I mean we could decide the phasing of this but there should be you know a fiveyear plan right um either flush out blown out or at least a straw man right of what where where we're going to go right how the policies fit in and set that um strategy you know kind of like a Enterprise architecture or a strategy document and then the plans and all this other stuff kind of then fits in right to there um be because without setting that overall where where we're going kind of thing right then we're kind of shotgunning in peace mealing but we can certainly have at the policies I think

you know if we r view the ones that are out there and um I'll go grab them I can throw them up in the one drive so everything's in one place if I'm thinking I still have right access and I can load stuff up but um we'll see but that would be my suggestion yep yeah that 2009 plan I didn't look at it Suburban group I remember I do remember it I remember when you when Pete Carlson was doing the work for you he was basically the it contractor for the town at the time is so is that was that Pete the Suburban group yes that was Pete Carlson oh okay I think it was something like half half time yeah something like that yep but yeah he so yeah remember he threw he put together that fiveyear plan and and of course a the details are surely you know that's now in 2009 that's now 16 years ago so a lot has changed since then but yes if we have yeah if if we can if we can be talking about sort of you know some sort of an updated at least a rough outline of a five-year plan to give us to to help set some directions and set some you know that would be worthwhile yeah you know things like you you know replacement rotation right obsolescence um the policy piece you know Cloud versus on Prem all that stuff right discussions of all the kind of the high level items and um you know I know Evan talked about replacement of the servers right how that fits in and in here there's a lot of cost data I'm looking at it and you know specifics around the

environment obviously I don't think that belongs in here right we we just need the kind of the the top level tasks or the top level discussion items and then a couple of bullets and that's probably good enough right six or eight pages done good and I remember Evan had said something the effect of that he you know he kind of has a thinks he has a fairly good handle on some components of that you know like desktop and laptop you know you know replacement cycles and server up upgrading but I also remember Evan saying that there there there are some other elements that ought to be in a five-year plan that he really hasn't you know got a good handle on yet so is um is CMD still part of this there still the CMD is still as far as I know I was just I was just reviewing our meeting from last June uh for making some notes so I can get the minutes done for this or that and at that time back in June Evan was in the process of preparing the uh to to go out for bid for IT services and he was he was contemplating at the time the possibility of hiring an IT person and then farming out some of the work to CMD or some other contractor to the best of my knowledge uh well I'm I'm certain that he hasn't hired an it person in house and so presumably he has just extended the CMD contract I don't know whether it was a one-year extension or a three-year extension but uh unfortunately that's a question we can't ask Evan right at this minute but it would be it would be interesting to get

an update we haven't we haven't met with CMD for a while and Evan really I don't recall that Evan has communicated to us what the current status of that contract is yeah well I I know I I think Mark left there which is kind of the um the guy on point and and he was kind of their architect I don't know if they' replaced him or what but um I'm sure you know Charlie over there Collinson um has all this stuff Christensen Charlie Christensen yep so okay well we can bring this up again y I'll upload we can talk about the specifics I guess the biggest thing with William or whoever is going to be on point you know they have to decide the framework right um and you know whether they're going to have their own template because they all got to look the same and be part of a you know a set and a template and then um pick one or design their own and then kind of to your point David whether they all the bits and pieces want to be in one document or they want to have individuals right and then the Cadence and review and you know blah blah blah right how they're going to management manage the whole thing yep so I so I guess for us going forward from tonight um we can we can we can be looking at the existing policy the town has and think about how that needs to be updated we can we we can we can think about a that that five-year plan or strategy or whatever you want to call it and and and sort of maybe come to the next meeting with at least an outline of what we think that should look like that does that sound like a

plan yeah I think we could do that and then um maybe make some recommendations as far as you know what it could look like right to get down to like the next level below and and just the steps like what what they need to do they have to decide on a look and feel they have to decide whether it's all in one they have to decide you know what the um how these are going to be ratified or approved those kinds of things y who's going to who's going to own it manage it yes and I think one of the reasons William has or Elvin has tossed us to William is William has been doing the bulk of the work drafting the policies sure so but as to the content that goes into those policies that I think that's coming from multiple places depending on the policy I mean William's not coming up with a Content all but he's kind of putting things together for as formatting the documents writing things up in detail right but I but I it is my impression anyway that that the the the substance of the policies are are the kind of expecting that to come more from us yeah well and there's you know three different um versions of examples now in that one drive so I think you could probably scrape most of that and repurpose it yes I don't I I don't think any of us thinks it's a great idea to reinvent all these wheels ourselves I mean I'm more more than happy to plagiarize a good a good document from any any Source I can find it and plagiar eyes is probably not the correct term to use here either

repurpose repurpose adopt adopt good stuff that you see from someone else's has developed and you know you yeah I I think the industry term for that is um leading practices or best practices best practices there you go ad the best practices yes yes so so yes we will propose all the all the best practices that we think are appropriate but uh and then and of course everything we propose we'll run that by William and Evan I'm sure they would like to they would they would like to be included in the loop and ultimately for the most part the policies are are formally adopted or endorsed by the board okay so that should be too that's a little ways off yes let's get that written up first yeah now I've lost the thread on even how to get to the one drive so someone's got to send me um how to find my way around that I know less about this stuff than you guys do I I rely on the link Evan sent out an email with a link to it and uh I have attempted to save that as a bookmark but it doesn't seem to work so I just I just have that email uh preserved and flagged so I can easily find it and I click on the link in the email that may be why that may be why I'm similar problems there's no there's no board in here I could paste in the link no don't don't send it if you're going to send it to me I send it by

email okay all right I could I could share it right now no okay I'd have I'd have to be able to think and in wall I think it's easier to I have to click I I'll tell you that uh this last week has been a going through all of the Town stuff agendas and all it not been a good week and I I blame it on my computer so keep it simple okay and then you get the ice and snow tomorrow so yep okay I'll send along um I'm able to see them so like I said but I don't I didn't poke around too much and I don't know if I can upload stuff still anymore but they are the stuff is still there so that's good yep if you're if you're not you and Dave maybe should communicate maybe they ask whoever Willam maybe about getting access this was this came from Evan the email and the he's he's the one that enabled it yeah okay well you know contact them and say hey not working right okay we done with that um I'm just doing a oh uh yeah I was going to check and see if if I was able to upload something to that SharePoint but uh I'm not going to fool around to it right now uh okay so I think I sounds like we're all set with a path forward on the policy topic um unless there's anything else

uh our next agenda item is a possible executive session but I'm not aware of any topic what happened to the minutes uh that's I I I may have written my agenda down in the wrong order but uh yeah I got I I move that we approve all of the minutes that were forwarded seven sets yes was it seven I saw a bunch of them yep a second moved in second that all all of the minutes distributed and I will enumerate them for the for the video record here January 4th 2023 February 1st 2023 March 1st 2023 July 12th 2023 November 1st 2023 December 6 2023 and January 8th 2025 all move motion is to approve all of those as drafted and need discussion of the motion I just kind of as discussion the motion I'll just note that uh um I had sent to the town clerk's office uh several minutes from 2022 and six of the 2023 minutes that we had already reviewed and approved but Allen never uploaded them to the SEC the town clerk's office those have been sent to the town clerks and posted and after tonight I'll send these out and after that we have a few 2024 meeting minutes that I should be should be ready to have the committee review and approve those at our next meeting so any further discussion on the motion if not we shouldn't we we shouldn't feel badly about how long it's

been to get these in have you noticed what minutes the select board is um releasing yes I I think I think some of the the the dates may start may be in the teens I'm not sure about that but it's way back yep it's not the first time that our Board of Select board um has been in that state but it's been a long while I remember Nancy there was an issue with getting Nancy to do minutes yep long time ago okay all righty with no further discussion on the motion Mr Carrol hi Mr Clark hi Mr hassinger hi Mr Robbins votes I motion carried unanimously there being no further information no further agenda items I Mo we so David when those minutes um do you upload them or do you have to send them to the clerk and they upload them I send them to the clerk the clerk files them and wherever they file them and they put them up on the web so they they're the ones that put them in the the content management okay yep I have no access to the content I have no access to upload things directly to the website okay try again I move the question no I move we adjourn second moved in second that this meeting be adjourned the motion is not debatable Mr Carrol hi Mr Clark hi Mr hassinger I and Mr Robins votes I motion you carried unanimously we are adjourned thank you for spending this lovely evening with us and