TAMRMS#: B06
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Council Chambers AV Support
Notice given by: Councillor Hughes
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BUDGET POSTPONED MOTION:
recommendation
That the operating business case for Council Chambers AV Support is reduced to $5000 for training only and the difference of $35,000 applied to reduce the tax base.
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POSTPONED MOTION ADMINISTRATIVE BACKGROUNDER
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Administration’s Understanding of Intent Motion:
Reduce the requested funds from $40,000 to $5,000
Operational or Organizational Impacts if Motion is Approved:
IT Services will be unable to improve audio-visual and general IT support to Council meetings and Council Committee meetings as proposed. The proposed $5,000 in training dollars would be insufficient to be able to effectively train existing staff to meet current needs. Therefore if the full project cannot be funded it is recommended that the motion be amended to unfund the entire business case for $40,000.
Financial Implications of Motions:
The proposed increase to the IT budget would not occur, which would not enable funding of the part-time support position. If the motion is amended to unfund the entire business case (and it passes), $40,000 would be applied to offset the tax requirement.
Stakeholder Consultations:
Not required.
Background:
The requested funds will be used to hire a part-time technician who will have or will develop a detailed knowledge of the audio-visual systems, video production and streaming systems, voting software, remote attendee software, and any other specialized equipment or software used at Council and Council Committee meetings. The technician will attend all meetings and provide immediate, personalized, and direct support as required. With the recent change of meeting venue returning to the Douglas Cardinal boardroom, IT support requirements have increased substantially due to setup, testing, and takedown of equipment for every meeting.
Without the funding, IT Services will continue to support Council meetings to the best of their ability with rotating technicians having general IT and AV knowledge; the main IT Service Desk will operate at reduced staffing levels during meetings, negatively impacting overall IT service levels to the City.
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Report Date: November 19, 2019
Author(s): Sharon Chapman
Department: Strategic Services & Information Technology
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer: Kerry Hilts
Chief Administrative Officer: Kevin Scoble