Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Good
Morning Grace":
Reading Geoffrey Simpson's article, it struck me.
Aurora has the equivalent to the stealth fighter jet contract. Has the council,
the majority of whom I helped to elect, truly signed up on a soft-ware contract
for an item that no one has ever seen work? An item which none of them
understand? Which is not needed in the first place? Is this sucker already
poured in concrete or is there a chance sanity might prevail?
Sorry - it has
been an irritant.
***********
I can only speak for myself. I opposed the $440,000 software program purchased at the end of last year for several reasons.
At the end of a budget year and a significant expenditure is recommended. it looks to me like money being used so the next year's budget can be built on last year's actuals.
The cost gave me pause. Software quickly becomes obsolete.
The region had purchased the same program several years previous. It was still not performing as expected.
I spoke to two regional staff. They can speak, while Aurora staff are not allowed. According to one, the program had not and still was not perfoming as expected. Addtional funds supplied and additional staff had to be hired.
The newly-hired manager of the program was more optimistic. The program was beginning to show progress and promised more.
I had learned the town's asset inventory program, mandated by the province,would not be handled by the new software.
The work had been done on spread sheets. It needed a software program costing about $50,000 .That was not planned.
I had also learned the town's IT department had not been consulted on compatibility of the new software program. I did not learn that from the IT department. .
According to policy, staff are not permitted to answer Councillors questions without a request being funneled through a department head.
The policy was started in the last term.
Some senior staff do not enjoy my confidence.
That too started during the last term
I pretend no expertise on software. I feel compelled to seek out satisfactory answers.
A few months after we bought the package, a further $58,000 was
requested for items overlooked in the original purchase
Six months after the purchase I asked for a report
A neighbour had reported a depression on the front lawn in the area of the stop valve the previous November.
The following May,after several additional phone calls, a waterworks crew descended.
A water leak was discovered. A nick in a pipe close to the valve, wassaito be caused during the excavation to discover reason for the depression in the ground., presumablycreted by a water leak, usually the cause of a subsidence of soil thereby creating a depression mening water had been leaking since the depression was firstnoticed and brought to the town's attention.
A second neighbour, retired, compiled a video journal of the event and reported to me as a Councillor, numbers of men,.vehicles , equipment, duration of project and time spent by numbers standing about watching one work.
All were items expected to be captured by the software program.
In New Business of the following Council meeting, I related the story and asked if this might be what the software program was about.
The Mayor cheerfully agreed and deferred to the Director.
He said the program was not up and running and would not be for some time.
During a budget discussion of a further purchase of equipment for the program, Council learned last week, the program is now at the testing stage.
$100,000 more is needed to purchase seven hand held pieces of equipment, seven annual licences, not transferable, and several other supporting costs of about $700, apiece. .
Permanent parks staff number thirteen. The objective is for twelve to be equipped year round to input data entry from the field..
Similar to the region, I believe additional staff will also be needed for the system to be functional.
We haven't got to the operating budget yet.
The recent Annual Auditor's Report was accompanied by a Management Letter.
It referred to problems created by treasury staff not being properly trained or having necessary skills to do the job
It also referred to work being done on a spread sheet.
It's generally considered to be an antiquated processs.
Changes have been ordered in municipal accounting.
The Chartered Accounting industry has reported inadequacies.
Municipal staff throughout the Province are having diffculty adapting
But that's a different issue to the $440,000 software program.
In answer to the query above.... Is the decision cast in concrete?
I would say so, Government regularly incurs the problem.
When is the opportune time for a massive investment to be abandoned?
Ah!!! Saints Preserve us, there isn't one. Money just keeps being ploughed under to avert disaster.
I just don't expect stuff like this to happen in a little town like ours.
At the Region...yes .
But that's another story.
.
Sunday 9 December 2012
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3 comments:
One can see a new Council swallowing that hooey but this Council is no longer new. The soft-ware may be a deal-breaker for me, something to raise in a future election. The $100, 000 for volunteers to plant trees is also sticking in my throat. Just how many decent planting days do we have per year in Aurora? Who is keeping those books?
But the Team do NOT respond to questions. How many times have they been asked for that promised report on the disposition of the land around the old Library? Response ? Nadda.
How many of the people posting here about the cost of the software and the infrastructure around it think that this is the same thing as going to Staples-Business Depot and buying a package off the shelf?
I think most do.
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