COMMUNITY COUNCIL

NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION
Friday, March 12, 1999
Good Samaritan Hospital
31st & Central, Kearney, Nebraska

APPROVED MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT
Rod Armstrong, AIM Institute	Donna Hammack, Good Samaritan Found.
Mike Nolan, City of Norfolk	Gerry Kluch, Kaystar Seed
Tyler French, Inacom	Jeanne Saathoff, Nebraska Library Assoc.
Jeff Grimes, Fasse Valves
MEMBERS ABSENT
Jim Beatty, NCS International	Jim Lowe, Midwest Microsystems
Anne Boyle, Public Service Commission	Judi Morgan, Indian Affairs
Lance Hedquist, League of Municipalities	Russ Pankonin, Wauneta Breeze
Gary Kiel, PKS Integrated Systems	Craig Schroeder, Nebraska Rural Development
Tim Lowenstein, NACO	Gary Warren, Hamilton Telecommunications

CALL TO ORDER AND MINUTES

The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair, Donna Hammack at 1:35 p.m. Ms. Hammack asked for corrections and/or additions to the January minutes. Mr. Kluch moved and it was seconded by Ms. Saathoff to approve the minutes as presented. All were in favor. Motion was carried.

GENE HAND, PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND

Mr. Hand provided information on the Universal Service Fund in Nebraska. There are four areas of impact provided by the fund: Life Line, Rural Health Care, Schools and Library Commissions and High Cost. Some of the points covered by Mr. Hand included the following:

• Rural Health Care and School and Library Commissions are being handled at the federal level
• LB 514 passed yesterday which removes the sunset clause
• A USF Administrator has been hired, Jeff Pursley
• High speed and cost to rural areas are some of the issues being dealt with
• There is competition among providers
• Timing has been altered for the 5% intrastate surcharge; July 1 - surcharge begins, September 1 - Toll Rate relief and October 1 - Payments to carriers begin
• Funds to Nebraska schools were sent out two weeks ago

Some of the concerns and comments from members were as follows:

• USF is very interested in getting information about success stories. If anyone had information, they are to forward it to Ms. Hammack.
• Libraries have not received any funds from USF so far. Mr. Hand reported that these funds should be received in the near future.
• The FCC's reluctance to release funds due to their concerns about fraud.

COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY FUND - TOM ROLFES

Mr. Rolfes distributed a handout listing the staff recommendations for CTF project awards submitted to the NITC. At the February 24th meeting of the NITC, these recommendations were approved. Projects that were funded: Nebraska Electronic Main Street, Center for Rural Community Revitalization and Development, UNL ($9,990) and the Northeast Regional Information Clearinghouse, City of Wayne ($2,000). Notifications and contracts have been sent to the recipients. Letters have also been sent to those who were not awarded. The remaining balance of $7,750 will be applied to the next proposal funding cycle. A press release will be done to announce the awardees. Mr. Kluch suggested that the council members be listed as contacts for further information regarding the fund. Council members were asked about ways to better disseminate this kind of information.

Mr. Grimes asked why the review process proceeded independent of the council. Mr. Winkle provided clarification that the collaboration funds are to be administered by the NITC and Chief Information Office and not the Community Council. Ms. Hammack also shared that it was decided by the council not to be involved in deciding on the grant recipients because several of the council members had close ties to the projects and/or applicants who submitted proposals.

PRESENTATION: TELEHEALTH IN ACTION, DONNA HAMMACK

A handout was distributed to the council members providing information on facilities using telehealth through Good Samaritan, activity usage by patients, specialties and facility. The council was provided a demonstration of telehealth session and digitized radiology.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR PREPARING A STATEWIDE TECHNOLOGY PLAN - MICHAEL WINKLE

Mr. Winkle provided clarification regarding the statewide plan. By July 1, 1999, the NITC must have "policies and procedures" for preparing a statewide technology plan in place. The complete statewide technology plan is not due at that time. Council members were given the draft "Policies and Procedures for Preparing a Statewide Technology Plan". The plan is broken down into five sections: Goals, Assessment, Policies and Procedures, Technical Infrastructure and Implementation. Mr. Winkle explained that it is a working document that will be changing as input is provided. Timelines will also change as the need requires.

All three councils have begun to work on parts of the plan. The councils and joint subcommittee will be working on assessment, process and procedures, and implementation. The draft and timelines are already posted on the NITC website. Due to the time issue, the joint subcommittee will be primarily responsible for the councils' work. Members were strongly encouraged to provide input electronically or through communications with staff or their joint subcommittee representative (Hammack, Nolan, French and Schroeder).

The NITC commissioners will be meeting on April 14th to discuss Goals and specific value criteria. The Technical Panel has begun to working on the technical infrastructure and will be conducting an aggregation study. Mr. Winkle emphasized that NITC is not a regulatory body but that the NITC has the opportunity to set the framework to assist the state in making I.T. decisions.

Mr. Kluch had a question about the email sent out to members from Bill Ptacek, Secretary of State Records Management Division, regarding the hearing to be held March 16 on Electronic Imaging, E-mail and Websites: Standards for State and Local Government Use. Members were pleased to receive the information but were concerned that it did not get to all persons who may be interested. Members did forward this information to others. Staff will be attending the hearing.

TELEHEALTH ISSUES -DONNA HAMMACK

Ms. Hammack reported that LB559 is out of committee and has a priority bill sponsor.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL CHARTER

Due to the time, Mr. Winkle asked council members to provide feedback to staff regarding the section on membership. Staff have proposed more representation for the libraries and certain health sectors and included an at-large sector for resource persons. After seeing the telehealth demonstration, several council members felt there was a strong need to expand the health sector. Members could utilize Mr. Loewenstein's or Mr. Rolfes' list serve for electronic communications.

COMMUNITY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER POSITION UPDATE

Mr. Winkle thanked the members for responding to his call prior to the NITC meeting regarding options for funding this position. At the February 24th meeting, the NITC approved reallocating monies from the Community Collaboration Technology monies to fund this position. A recommendation will be taken to the Appropriations Committee. Staff will let the council know as soon as a decision has been made.

NEXT MEETING DATE, TIME AND LOCATION

Possible meeting dates were discussed for the week of April 5th. Members asked for a teleconference meeting to accommodate travel time. Staff will communicate with members electronically regarding a date.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. by the co-chair.

Minutes were tape recorded and composed by Lori Lopez Urdiales then reviewed by Tom Rolfes and Rick Becker, Office of the Chief Information Officer/NITC.

Meeting Minutes