Council approves new management for tech systems, discusses holiday fireworks

April 12 city council meeting

by Laura Bednar

Employees from Fairsite Technologies will oversee Independence’s move to a new digital management platform, previously administered by geographic information systems professional Chrissy Lingenfelter.

Mayor Greg Kurtz announced the city’s contract with Tyler Technologies to provide enterprise asset management in July of last year. The company’s software is designed to provide integration between the city’s service, engineering and technical service departments, according to Kurtz’s administrative update.

Lingenfelter gave a presentation in December 2021 on the programming, which includes “Tyler 311” and “My Civic.”

“Tyler 311 is the application for managing reported issues from phone calls, and My Civic is the app that residents can use on their mobile device,” Lingenfelter said.

The system tracks work histories of city assets like vehicles, buildings and HVAC systems as well as inventory. Tyler 311 is a web portal for residents to report an issue using the city’s website, and My Civic is the app that residents can download to report problems.

Since her update in December, Lingenfelter has left her position, and Kurtz said the city’s IT department took over the project on an interim basis. Fairsite Technologies has been assisting the IT department since June 2021. It provides an onsite technician 40 hours a week and a chief information officer for major issues.

Independence City Council members approved an amendment to the Fairsite contract to address taking over the Tyler project. The onsite technician will take on the Tyler coordinator responsibilities, which amounts to 46 hours a week, 30 for assisting IT and 16 for the Tyler project.

Finance Director Vern Blaze said the city had employed Lingenfelter and another salaried employee to manage the Tyler project. “Six hours of overtime is still cheaper than the mayor hiring a new person,” he said.

Councilperson Anthony Togliatti expressed concerns over timeline markers for the project. “Nobody knows where we are,” he said. “I cannot support the continued financial investment in this software when we have yet to see any return and have not been updated on the project’s status.”

Togliatti was the sole dissenting vote in amending the Fairsite contract.

“We will have progress reports,” Kurtz said. “To understand is fair but to delay is inefficient.”

In Lingenfelter’s December update, she said, “The anticipated go live for EAM is late April or early May. My Civic can roll out during the summer.”

Council discussed holding a progress meeting in June with representatives from Tyler Technologies.

Fireworks

Council members Dave Grendel, Tom Narduzzi, Jim Trakas and John DiGeronimo voted in favor of hiring American Fireworks Company to show fireworks at the 2022 Home Days and holiday tree-lighting ceremony for $36,500. Council members Dale Veverka and Togliatti dissented.

In Veverka’s report to council, he said, “I will not be supporting Ordinance 2022-52 for additional fireworks beyond the usual Fourth of July fireworks. We need to keep a close eye on new wants and two additional fireworks shows in a year seems excessive.”

Kurtz said the city planned to have a Fourth of July celebration without fireworks.

Togliatti said he would prefer fireworks on the Fourth of July rather than split between Home Days and the tree lighting. Police Chief Robert Butler said fireworks at Home Days are marketed within the city but fireworks on the Fourth of July would draw large crowds of non-residents, citing a safety concern. Blaze added that Home Days is spread over two days and has fewer concentrated groups of people than Independence Day.

At an April 19 special council meeting, four of five council members present voted to increase the fireworks budget by $6,500 to allow for an Independence Day show with a tentative date of July 1.

Fencing

The city will replace fencing adjacent to City Hall that was destroyed during a motor vehicle accident. According to the legislation, the driver’s insurance reimbursed the city $6,668.

The city purchasing coordinator wrote in a letter, “Technical Services Director [Dave] Snyderburn felt this could be an opportunity to replace the existing chain link fence with columns and decorative fencing, as was discussed in the past.”

Grendel, Narduzzi and DiGeronimo voted in favor of the $38,815 project, which includes concrete work, masonry, electrical and miscellaneous expenses. Togliatti, Trakas and Veverka voted against the legislation.

“Thousands of dollars have already been spent on concrete footers along with electrical work on extending the fencing on property near City Hall,” Veverka said. “Money for this project was spent before council gave the go-ahead to spend the money.”

Councilperson Chris Walchanowicz was absent, so Kurtz broke the tie by voting in favor of the replacement. ∞