Parkville’s technology woes could be a thing of the past after the board of aldermen approved an agreement with eNet, LLC on Tuesday.
In recent months Parkville’s city employees have been plagued with email connection issues and network problems at City Hall.
The agreement with eNet, LLC, which was founded by Eddie Seasholtz, will cost the city $85 per hour. Lauren Palmer, city administrator, said this rate was very competitive compared to some of the other bids the city had received for the work.
The agreement states that the maximum billable amount of hours per month is 25, which would result in $2,125 per month.
According to a staff report, at this rate the maximum that could be billed to the city through the end of the fiscal year is $18,445. However, there is only $8,935 remaining in the budget for information technology services. The remainder of the overage could come from savings in the administration fund and contingency fund.
There are six tasks outlined in the agreement which are immediate priorities for the city.
The first task is to repair the city’s email service utilizing Microsoft Exchange Server to allow for reliable incoming and outgoing email service. The second task is to make sure all city employees have connection to the city’s network and that all of the city’s computers have adequate firewall and anti-virus.
Another task is to create an offsite backup of the city’s servers. The agreement asks to establish reliable internet connections to the city’s streets and parks buildings and to train staff at those locations to access and use the city’s web services.
Seasholtz has additionally been tasked to determine any hardware or software upgrades needed to the city’s network and then to purchase and install the upgrades once approved.
Any hardware or software upgrades made by the city would be separate from the contract with eNet and would come from the city’s contingency fund.
The board approved the agreement with a vote of 8-0.
In other business at Tuesday night’s meeting, the board approved maintaining the city’s property tax rate at $0.6543 per $100 assessed valuation.
After holding a public hearing with no members of the public speaking out for or against, the board approved the rate. The rate is made up of $0.4784 for the city’s general fund and $0.1759 for the city’s debt services fund.
According to a staff report, the city only receives about 20 percent of its operating funds from the property taxes. The majority of the city’s operating funds come from sales tax revenue.
The city is budgeting to receive about $895,600 in 2014 for the general fund and $329,000 for the debt services fund.
The board approved the property tax rate on a unanimous vote.
The city is hosting a meeting to discuss the Parkville Downtown Master Plan on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the American Legion Hall on Main Street in downtown Parkville. The project kick-off meeting and workshop will go from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
More information can be found at the LetsTalkParkville.com website.