Mountain View County council has reviewed a number of project sheets for the proposed 2019 budget. The update came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The business continuity plan update project would have a total cost of $35,000.
“This update will look at our staff, our business units, our facilities, IT management and records management,” administration said in a briefing note to council. “Identifying the services the county provides as critical, vital, necessary and desired then creating contingency plans to provide these services to the public during a disaster.
“Outcomes from the update will include a capture of staff skills, interim disaster succession planning, ancillary work plans for staff, communication plans, infrastructure hardening ideas and emergency logistics plans for county services.”'
The VMWare (cloud computing) OS upgrade project would have a total cost of $26,000.
“This project will allow more functionality in the VMWare environment so that it’s possible to minimize downtime related to maintenance. While our current hardware isn’t capable of providing full redundancy, more redundancy is possible, and this licence upgrade will unlock the software features needed to make better use of our existing hardware. If this project is not approved, the alternative that will be required is to upgrade the VMWare management server.”
The agricultural services shop camera system would have a total cost of $10,000.
“The shop does not currently have a camera system. This project will install that system. The intent is to ensure employees responding to a potential break-in are safe by checking the site visually before arriving at the site, and also detecting false alarm to avoid unnecessary responses. The camera will also assist in sharing information relating to rural crime with our community partners.”
The cloud-based disaster recovery project would have a total cost of $17,000.
“The intent of this project is to be able to bring our systems back up much quicker, with significantly less downtime and lost data in the event of a major or minor loss. Our current recovery point in the event of a major loss is a minimum of a few days to a maximum of just over a week. This relates to the limitations of physical tapes and the cost and complications of getting them offsite and securely stored.”
The council chamber audio-visual (AV) needs assessment project would have a total cost of $18,000.
“A needs assessment will be completed in order to ensure the investment in a new council chambers AV system will meet the needs of the users for many years. A knowledgeable consultant will direct the process, and an RFP (request for proposal) will be developed to use in the purchasing process. The first stage will be meeting with stakeholders and making a list of needs. Then a cost analysis will be done and stakeholders will be engaged again to determine the final requirements."
The council chamber audio-visual upgrade project would have a total cost of $100,000.
“The council chambers AV system is a key tool in meetings. Parts of the system are up to 14 years old, and the system has had a number of tweaks and upgrades through the years. The system will only be replaced in 2019 if the existing system no longer functions. The project will proceed in 2020 no matter the condition of the system to ensure stability and functionality of the council chambers AV system. The budgeted amount is based on the estimated installation cost of the existing system, and may need to be adjusted pending the outcome of the needs assessment project.”
The Water Valley campground improvements project would have a total cost of $31,200.
“The campground was impacted by the Rge. Rd. 52 bridge construction. Multiple sites were lost due to the approach move and the raise in grade of the road access. Previously, there was a gravel bar that was frequently used by the public as a day use area. With the new bridge this area is no longer accessible. It is proposed that the campground could benefit from some alterations and upgrades post bridge construction.
“Possible upgrades may include regravelling some of the sites, re-establishing the site layout to create more sites and to determine feasibility of creating a day use area within the campground.”
Councillors received the budget update for information. Budget deliberations are ongoing.
