Have an apple, dearie?
Plainfielders deserve some straight talk from the Robinson-Briggs administration on its Information Technology proposal.
Why is it that every time Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs comes forward with a proposal like this I am reminded of the scene from Disney's Snow White where the witch offers the innocent girl a poisoned apple, an apple that looks too good to be true? And, as the tale unfolds, IS too good to be true.
Councilors McWilliams, Storch and Mapp are quite right to demand the Administration justify the proposal with more hard data -- or should I drop the 'more', as it seems all the Council has been given so far is the old the-sky-is-falling malarkey.
I visited City Hall on Monday and chatted up a few of the folks whose productivity depends on using the networked computer system and accessing their emails.
Problems? My questions were met with stares.
Fearing the Mayor's legendary wrath (one staffer was punished by being forced to work in the basement of the Annex with the mildew and vermin for months), no one would go on record.
However, all said they had no particular problems with either accessing the computer network or their email accounts.
So, what IS the big deal?
It is particularly irksome to anyone who knows anything about the history of this business to hear City Administrator Marc Dashield blow the mayor's smoke.
To wit --
NETWORKS: City Hall was doing just fine at networking computers and had a plan in place which is was executing before Mayor Robinson-Briggs hired her infamous first City Administrator, Carlton McGee, who should probably face charges for malfeasance. It was McGee who dispensed with a local IT professional who was providing perfectly adequate services, and who the Mayor subsequently stiffed to the tune of some $40,000.In short, the Council should stand its ground and not give in to the Robinson-Briggs administration on this one.
EMAIL: Give me a break. The City had begun switching emails to Verizon DSL. For a while Robinson-Briggs continued this practice (remember the notorious 'pfld' abbrevation for Plainfield in her email address?), until the poorly planned and ill-considered switch to VOIP.
WEBSITE: Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs inherited a fully functional website when she took office. Folks may remember that she insisted on a redesign which involved hiring highly paid consultants and trashing the existing website. Consequently, Plainfield was without a functional official website for a year and a half.
PCTV74: Ditto the city's Public Access Cable TV Channel. Not only was the pre-existing programming format trashed, the Administration has never given an accounting of the thousands of dollars of equipment that was on hand when it took over. And though it finally has rudimentary programming, it still fumbles with the concept of taping and broadcasting Council meetings (capturing everything the Mayor does is evidently NOT a problem). Worse yet, Mr. Dashield stated at a recent Council agenda session that the delay in getting programming submitted by the public online is due to the staff's editing the content of supplied materials -- an outrageous violation of Public Access Channel protocols.
While an IT director's position may well be desirable over the long haul, there is no need to rush blindly and there are plenty of consultants out there -- including the one Robinson-Briggs stiffed -- who can do the job on an as-needed basis until a reasoned decision can be made.
No need to take that too-perfect-looking poisoned apple.
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2 comments:
It's such a shame that someone so obviously over their head just can't simply put their hands up and say " You're right..I can't do this, it's too much. Find a replacement for the rest of my term " This computer situation is simply another sign of how bad her administration is for Plainfield. I remember applying and paying for my parking permit. They pulled out this huge old ledger and wrote eveything by hand, then hand stamped my permit tags. The first thing I thought of course, was how inefficient and how ripe for theft...so goes Plainfield.
With all due respect, Dan, I think you should look a bit deeper than asking people how their computer is working.
1- There is no standard for email names or domains.
2- What services are shared? Can directors see each other's calendar so they know when meetings can be scheduled. And just in case you think it has to be shared with everyone all the time, it does not.
3- Forms can be downloaded, but not filled out on line or sent back online. Not very useful
4- Does inspections have an application whereby they can view houses that have been reported and see updated information? I think not
5- Are the planning and zoning departments able to communicate? I think not
6- Can builders look for land blocks or parcels in a kiosk or are they dependent on waiting for someone to show them the big book and they have to have it copied - not very useful.
I think what you and others are missing is that technology is not just email and not just websites. And because no one seems interested in hearing about how applications and technology can make work more efficient, we will stay in the dark ages. Time to expand the mind and look at what technology has to offer beside blogging, emails and websites.
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