Ione – The Ione City Council last week approved $9,000 in technological improvements and repairs, to replace a server and other computers. City Manager Kim Kerr said the October 13th storm “knocked out” the city finance computer. The city still has its Department of Justice server, and Ione Police Chief Michael Johnson believes they can place the city’s website on that server. A problem was finance data dating back to 1990, which Kerr cannot go on the main city computer because it is incompatible. Kerr recommended dropping use of Internet Service Provider “Twin Wolf,” in favor of a Direct Service Link. She was not satisfied with Twin Wolf, with whom “it’s always an argument that it’s our equipment” causing problems, but “ends up its Twin Wolf’s problem.” Kerr said it has happened that way 4 times, including the latest outage. Kerr and staff are “looking at a virtual private network,” with remote accessibility. Councilman David Plank recommended a Level 4 DSL business account with AT&T, at $55 to $75 a month, “a huge difference from the $1,500 a month” paid to Twin Wolf. Kerr recommended buying a $4,000 tower server, and keeping the current server as a backup. She said there will be additional costs, due to the storm. City Planner Christopher Jordan said the storm “fried the uninterrupted power supplies,” with most having expired warranties. One costing $237, however, had a lifetime warranty. Mayor Lee Ard said the council previously visited the technology issue and knew it was coming. He also agreed “with dumping Twin Wolf,” and said the next step is to look at a plan to build the network. The good thing, he said, was that they can do so with Pacific Municipal Consultants, at $80 an hour, compared to $125 for other technicians, and they can also “have a solution before they leave.” Jordan, of PMC, said they backed up the city’s $140 server and loaded it onto PMC’s computer. He said it was important to have those warranty packs with the purchase of new equipment. Vice Mayor Skip Schaufel voted no in a 4-1 vote authorizing $9,000, including a budget change, for the upgrades. Schaufel said with 17 people on staff, “we’re talking about $114,000.” He said it was “way in excess of what we need,” and “should be about half of that.” Schaufel said it’s “probably a good plan but the cost is outrageous.” Staff direction included bringing a final plan, with an implementation schedule and costs for council consideration by the end of December. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.