Mayor and Council Work Session, 8/23/2010

CITY OF GAITHERSBURG
MINUTES OF A CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2010

A work session of the Mayor and City Council was called to order at 7:30 p.m., Mayor Katz presiding.  Council Members present: Ashman, Drzyzgula, Marraffa, Sesma, and Spiegel.  Staff present: City Manager Jones, Deputy City Manager Tomasello, City Attorney Board, Britta Monaco, Pete Cottrell, Jim Arnoult, Jeff Baldwin, and Brian Helms.

I. TOPICS OF DISCUSSION:

1. Website Content Management System Replacement and Redesign
   
   Britta Monaco, Director of Community and Public Relations, accompanied by Pete Cottrell, Information Technology Director, gave a presentation on the status of the website content management system replacement project.  Prior to determining whether or not the project will financially meet the RFP threshold, staff is gathering information and outlining desired functionality of the site.  Feedback has been solicited from various stakeholders, including the general public, committee volunteers, and department and division representatives.  During the work session, the Mayor and Council were asked for functions they would like to see enhanced and improved.  Director Monaco emphasized that some features may be cost prohibitive at this time.  Also, when the new site is launched in early 2011, all features will not be immediately available.  However, it is the intention to purchase a system that is robust enough for us to grow into over the coming years, accommodating anticipated technological advancements and new tools with which to improve communication with our residents.
   
   Among the desired functions highlighted by the Mayor and Council were enhanced search capabilities, more FAQ features, enhanced information and graphics on major development project pages, online payment opportunities, staff directories, resident address look-up, GIS interface for maps, enhanced video streaming, integration with social networking, online surveys and comment opportunities, Alert Gaithersburg feed on homepage during emergency communications, and an “I couldn’t find it” comment area that would allow us to spot trends for future site improvement.
   
   
2. Records Retention Schedule
   
   Lynn Board, City Attorney, presented an overview of records retentions programs and state statutory requirements for retention of municipal documents.  Staff has inventoried records maintained by each Department, reviewed Federal and State statutory requirements for retention periods and Departmental usage of documents, and developed draft Retention Schedules.  The Retention Schedules that are before the Mayor and Council for adoption are minimum guidelines for retention periods.  City Attorney Board explained that adoption of the Retention Schedules was the first phase in the development of a comprehensive records retention program and that staff would be exploring technology and space needs to ensure better storage and retrieval of records.
   
   During the work session, the Mayor and Council expressed concern regarding the retention of e-mails, especially e-mails to and from the Mayor, Council and other commission or committee members that are sent or received on private systems.  Also discussed was using longer and more uniform retention periods.

II. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before this session of the City Council, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:45 p.m.