Includes committee reports.
Minutes for meeting of the Iowa County Information Technology (ICIT) Organization on Friday, August 23rd, at the Polk County Administrative Building in Des Moines.
In attendance:
Pete Buckingham, GIS Specialist (Washington County)
Robert Canney, MIS Director (Black Hawk)
Mark Castenson, GIS Coordinator (Warren County)
Wayne Chizek, GIS Director (Marshall)
Micah Cutler, GIS Administrator (Harrison)
Denise Kalbus, DP Assistant Director (Warren County)
Jim Rice, MIS Director (Cerro Gordo)
Jason Siebrecht, GIS Coordinator (Linn)
Randy Snyder, Data Processing Director (Warren County)
Scott Williams, IS Director (Marshall)
Ray Willis, Mapping Specialist (Polk)
Wayne opened the meeting by asking Ray to summarize the financial report. ICIT’s current balance is $1,826.88 and Wayne reminded everyone that there would be a lot of expenses ahead concerning ISAC Fall School in November. Approximately 8 people have signed up for ArcGIS I in Des Moines the following Monday and Tuesday. Light turnout might be because counties haven’t converted to ArcGIS 8 and there is an ESRI presentation on Tuesday in Iowa City. Ray also reported that ProMap has expressed interest in participating in training workshops.
Mark and Denise presented the Education & Schools Committee report on their progress regarding the ISAC Fall School in November. They presented the schedule/agenda for the programs. They are trying to get other people from different departments to be on a panel about county data. Ray is chairing a panel on real estate workflow. Scott said that he was in touch with Mitch Tollerud (Scott Co.) about the e-government section. That topic will just touch on subjects and hopefully open the door to a full e-government workshop day. Peter from GeoAnalytics has expressed concern about the possibility of a low turnout on Friday morning. The Education Committee will send out a summary and get feedback ahead of time on who is planning to attend. The final agenda needs to be in to ISAC by September 3rd.
The Legislative Committee Chair was not in attendance; there was no report.
Micah reviewed the voting procedure for the Membership Committee. Wayne suggested voting on the officers all at once with one motion. The districts that do not have more than one candidate will discuss topics for ISAC Spring School in March 2003. Emails will be sent out to remind people that they have to pay for the ISAC Fall School in order to attend the ICIT meetings.
Scott reported that the Online Committee has been hard at work with a new content management system. A members-only portion of the website is now possible, although there is no content there as of yet. The software will allow Scott to delegate content control. Committee chairs will be able to edit their own pages and Ray will be able to post the minutes directly to the website. Everyone agreed that the website was looking very good and that we want to promote it as the center of ICIT activity.
Jim reported that the Business Continuation Committee had not done much. They were still waiting to hear on the progress for a statewide deal to use the ICN for emergency purposes. There were still contentious issues, such as using the ICN for daily back-ups.
Discussed ICIT business meeting at the ISAC Fall School. Ray will present the financial report, Chairs will present committee reports, and the candidates up for election will introduce themselves. Micah explained that sections in the by-laws concerning voting were confusing and proposed to bring these by-law changes before the entire membership organization.
1) Propose addition to Article XII. Voting
Section 2. In order for any issue brought to a vote at a general meeting be approved, there must be a simple majority of “aye” votes by the active members present at that meeting, unless otherwise specified in these by-laws.
Delete Section 2 in Article XIV. Meetings
Section 2. In order to have a passing vote, there must be a sixty (60) percent vote of all active members present during any general meeting. There must be at least twenty (20) “aye” votes.
Motion to approved by Jim, second by Randy, and passed by unanimous vote.
2) Propose addition to Article XIII. Committees
Section 1. d. Online Services Committee It shall be the duty of the Online Services Committee to consider all content and services provided over the Internet, and to insure that all online services are properly developed and maintained.
Motion to approved by Randy, second by Bob, and passed by unanimous vote.
3) Propose deleting portion of Article XVII. Amendments, Section 2
Upon a 2/3-majority approval by the Executive Board, the active members attending the Annual Meeting will vote on the proposed amendment to these by-laws. A sixty (60) percent vote of all active members present at the Annual Meeting is required to amend, alter, or repeal all or part of these by-laws. There must be at least twenty (20) “aye” votes.
Motion to approve by Wayne, second by Pete, and passed by unanimous vote. Micah will send out the changes to the Board by September 15th, and then to the general membership by October 15th. It was noted that there will need to be at least 20 members with an unanimous vote this fall to change the by-laws.
Preparations for promoting ICIT at ISAC Fall School were presented. The original idea of cozies was proving too expensive. The favorite idea for a promotional item was a “stress ball” shaped like a computer with ICIT written on it. The Education Committee is going to look into renting a hospitality room for two nights as the social area. It was also agreed to purchase 4-$25 gift certificates to give out at a raffle.
Discussed establishing a registration/refund policy. After discussing different procedures, Wayne proposed: a full refund will be given up to 10 full days before the event, 75% refund for 10 to 3 full days before, and no refund 48 hours before the event. Special exceptions may be presented to the Board. Randy moved to accept the proposal, second by Jim, passed by unanimous vote. A 30-day pre-registration discount for active members can be offered prior to each event. Those planning the event can set an appropriate amount.
Discussed creating a GIS/IT survey that people could fill out and update on the ICIT website. Micah said that she would like to see summaries, averages, and rankings, as well as a specific county’s results. Randy volunteered to work on a starting survey that will be presented to the members at the ISAC Fall School business meeting for more suggestions. Bob suggested getting ISAC involved because they have the staff and the interest in these results.
Discussed establishing a cadastral committee. Ray, as chair of the IGIC Cadastral Committee, discussed that not much had been done in that group but he hoped things would change in the future. Wayne expressed concern about ICIT taking too much on too soon. It was decided to just focus on the survey and collecting data.
There had been discussion in the spring about establishing a cooperative effort with organizations such at IGIC and the US Census. Since IGIC’s response has since been lukewarm, ICIT is going to table it for now.
The last schedule item on the agenda was ICIT shirts and logos. Jim showed the logo on some sample shirts and everyone agreed that it looked great. He is going to get prices for a white polo shirt, a tan polo shirt, and a long-sleeve denim shirt. It will be around $18/shirt. ICIT will plan to order extra to give away or sell at ISAC Fall School. We will also be able to send Jim a shirt to have embroidered with the logo.
Randy expressed an interest in having the Education Committee looking into putting together a day conference concerning IT and HIPAA regulations.
The next meeting was set for October 18th.
Meeting adjourned 1:45 pm.