INFORMATION RESOURCES CABINET
August 31, 1998, 1:30 p.m.
Meeting Minutes
Governor's Mansion
Members Present:
Jon Ogden, Dept of Roads (proxy for Al Abbott); Al Abramson, Dept of Motor Vehicles; Berri Balka, Dept. of Revenue; Tom Conroy, IMS; Dorest Harvey, GDE Systems; J.L. Schmidt, DAS (proxy for Karen Kilgarin); Bob Shanahan, Labor Dept. (proxy for Butch Lecuona); Brenda Decker, Div. Of Communications; Greg Lemon, Secretary of State (proxy for Scott Moore); Yvonne Norton-Leung, Policy & Research Office; Gerry Oligmueller, Budget Office; Steve Schafer, Intergovernmental Data Services; Dayle Williamson, Natural Resources Commission; Dennis Zimmerman, Commercial Federal Bank
Members Absent:
Al Curtis, Dept of Motor Vehicles and Jeff Elliott, Dept. of Public Institutions
Others Present:
Bill Ptacek, Secretary of State; Lyn Heaton, Budget; Tony Peters, Dept of Roads
The Information Resources Cabinet was called to order at 1:30 p.m. on August 31, 1998 by Yvonne Norton-Leung, Chair. The meeting was held in the lower level of the Governor's Residence.
BRIEFINGS AND PUBLIC COMMENT
Public Service Commission - Gene Hand, Director of Communications Division
Gene passed around last year's report and informed the group this year's report should be available in a month. He provided information pertaining to the PSC office - responsibilities, jurisdiction and updates latest dockets and issues. Some of the docket and issue topics he discussed were telephony, universal service and access, local Internet service, Telecom Act and public interest pay phone. There is a public hearing set for September 16th, 1:30 p.m., State Capitol to discuss the Telecom Act Section 271 filing for US West. Nebraska is the first state to go to hearing with this issue. Another public hearing is set for October 27th, 1:30 p.m., State Capitol to discuss Universal Service and Access. PSC jurisdiction lies within over the wire "quality of service", extended area service, and handling complaints.
GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATION FUND
Rick Becker, Government Information Technology Manager for the Chief Information Officer, provided the group with a chart that listed the committee's grant recommendations to eleven agencies totaling $250,000. Members of the review committee were Yvonne Norton-Leung, Lyn Heaton, Scott Donigole, Tim Erickson, and Gerry Hurley. Dorest Harvey reviewed independently. Some of the questions asked and answered were as follows:
Would the match for dollars the same if their request was not fully funded and how was this determined? - Yes. Some agencies were unclear was to the "match" meant. In the proposals, this varied between soft monies, staff time, phone calls and hard monies. Agency size was taken into consideration. It was recommended that next time around the committee take a harder look at the match issue.
Should all of the $250,000 be allocated at this time? - The committee felt strongly that it should be at this time. Hopefully, there will be more grant monies for agencies next year. Any emergencies this year should be handled by the agency.
Why aren't agency's submitting these requests as part of their budget process? - These monies are a one-time opportunity for small agencies to get up to minimum operating system. Small agencies are the priority.
Did all the agencies listed meet the definition of small agency? - Yes. Agencies on the list met either the small agency definition or were part of a collaborative effort.
How does a proposal requesting Nfocus or backbone access differ from a request to upgrade systems? - In reviewing the proposals, "access" was more the issue in funding projects.
What will be the progress process for the grants? - DAS will be responsible and will be working with CIO. It was recommended that DAS provide quarterly reports to the IRC.
REGULAR REPORTS, DISCUSSIONS & ACTIONS
Accounting & Financial Management
Don Herz was not available but Gerry Oligmueller reported that the first steering committee would be meeting in a week with legislative representatives and judicial branches.
Technology Planning and Budgeting
Gerry Oligmueller and Yvonne handed out a document which detailed "Technology Planning and Budgeting Review Process" for the cabinet's review and input. This document will be presented to NITC at their September 9th meeting. In the review process, the plan must meet three criteria: 1) minimum standards, 2) systems connection support and 3) enterprise goals. Yvonne believes the committee would tier the proposals into possible three groups according to criteria and priority. Committee would not individually prioritize proposals or determine dollar amounts. After some discussion, two recommendations were made: 1) tiers need to be specific and clear, and 2) Y2K be part of the review. Yvonne shared with the group that AIM would be hosting a conference in October or November on Y2K. Yvonne, Rick, Gerry and Mike will continue to work on this document for presentation and invited members to send her any other suggestions or input by this Friday.
Standards
Jim Ohmberger has not been active since most of the members are involved with IRC. Yvonne suggested posting standards information on the web.
Email Project
Jim informed the group that software is in place and is currently working with UNL and HHS to bring their directories. Agency liaison contact list is being worked on and will be posted on the web.
Action Items
Dorest moved to accept the Government Technology Collaborative Fund review committee's list of recommendations to present to the NITC Technical Review committee. Berri seconded. After discussion was held an amendment was made to the motion. The motion to approve the list now reads:
"The IRC accepts the recommendations made by the review committee for the Government Technology Collaborative Fund with the recommendation that DAS provide quarterly reports to the IRC."
Vote taken on the amendment: Abbott-Yes, Abramson - Yes, Balka-Yes, Conroy - Yes, Curtis-absent, Elliott-absent, Harvey-Yes, voting for Kilgarin-Yes, Decker-Yes, abstained for Moore, Norton-Leung-Yes, Oligmueller-Yes, Williamson-Yes, Zimmerman-Yes. Motion carried.
Yvonne proceeded to a vote on the amended motion. Vote taken: Abbott-Yes, Abramson-Yes, Balka-Yes, Conroy-Yes, Curtis-absent, Elliott-absent, Harvey-Yes, voting for Kilgarin-Yes, Decker-Yes, abstained for Moore, Norton-Leung-Yes, Oligmueller-Yes, Williamson-Yes, Zimmeman-Yes. Motion carried.
INDIVIDUAL AGENCY REPORTS:
Dept of Roads - Their home page will be available this week on NOL.
Natural Resources Commission - Dayle received a letter from the Lt. Governor informing him that HHS is interested in GIS and they will soon be working together on telemedicine and public health issues.
Dept. of Labor - Public is accessing their web page for employment opportunities and are averaging 14,000 hits per month. Yvonne reported on the Conference of Electronic Commerce she attended in Kearney. AIM has a very active career link and encouraged members to explore this as a good resource for job opportunities as well as to advertise IT positions.
MISCELLANEOUS
Tech Net Symposium will be October 26th-28th at Offutt Airforce Base in Omaha. Dorest will be doing a session of Y2K preparedness. Information will go out to members at a later date.
Electronic Signature. The question was asked if it will work with email systems like Lotus Notes. Greg thought that it would but will need to check on this. Greg announced that there will be a public hearing on September 26th, 1:30 p.m. at the State Capitol on the Digital Signature Rules and Regulations.
Next IRC meeting will be held on October 5, 1998, 1:30 p.m. in lower level of the Governor's Mansion, 1425 H Street, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
Minutes taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
meeting minutes