For $40,000 a Year I Would Expect Almost a Resident IT Guy
from: Mike Gardner manddgardner@cfl.rr.com 9:46 PM
to Margaret, Greg, Drew, Donald, Dennis, Bob, Allen, Aaron, Paul, mvp100, Kim, Kela, Fred,
Dear Mayor, Councilmen and Manager,
As an inexperienced outsider to your meetings, perhaps I’m missing something real obvious but it seems like a representative from Diamond Quest should have been there last night. Approval of a sole source (or even preferred source) equipment contract on top of a $40,000 per year maintenance contract should have had the vendor eager to be there. Maybe that’s not allowed? Seems like some of the questions from Council and the audience that Jason Yarborough struggled with could have been directed to the vendor.
For $40,000 a year I would expect almost a resident IT guy. Oh well, my three minutes are up.
Mike Gardner
After the 9-11attack came the homeland security act. The city needed to do a vulnerability assessment to figure out where we would be vulnerable to terror attacks. Our utilities especially our drinking water systems are a prime target as any drinking water system would be. Everyone uses water. 24 hour video surveillance of our facilities was an important step towards securing them, Diamond Quest is a sophisticated proprietary system. It was recommended to us by our consulting engineers as part of a water plant improvement project. This is not some piece meal system that you pick up at the local Radio Shack. Since it is a proprietary system we need their technicians to maintain it. As the city expanded the surveillance system they chose to continue using the Diamond Quest system. We already had quite a bit of money invested with them in the utilities systems with good results and service. It makes more sense to have one standardized system than to try to integrate several different systems. I hope this answers some questions for you and others. Try to cut the utilities directors a little break he’s a new guy. There is a person in the utilities maintenance division that could have answered just about any questions. The utilities department has some very educated, well trained, experienced and talented people in operations and maintenance. They can be a great resource. If you want know something ask them. I don’t know if they would be allowed to give you answers.