http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118 Councillor Rob Lantz - Charlottetown | Ward 3 (Brighton) Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:54:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118/comment-page-1#comment-99970 David Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:12:13 +0000 http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118#comment-99970 From my take on it, the city has been paying an exorbitant amount of money for all IT functions for several decades. Contracting out was certainly reasonable during the initial years when IT infrastructure and expertise was prohibitively expensive and you wouldn't want to incur a pension liability for one or more IT employees who might not be needed should technology evolve. However, we have seen that more and more of private and public sector workplaces are computerized and the costs have come down, yet Charlottetown continues to contract out IT services at outrageously expensive rates. And the city doesn't even have a City Engineer anymore (since amalgamation) to oversee all things engineering - these services are contracted out too, rather than have comprehensive design work performed in-house and ensure that public works construction on curbs, sidewalks, etc. is properly monitored. Your contractors are doing the design work (which changes from contractor to contractor) and then they end up supervising and QC'ing their own design work. Contract finished? Off into the night they run. You need to start performing technical work like IT and engineering in-house. It's cheaper in the long run and the taxpayer gets better work for it (IMHO). And no, I don't work for the city, nor a private contractor. I'm just concerned about spending money inefficiently and getting poor results for it. From my take on it, the city has been paying an exorbitant amount of money for all IT functions for several decades. Contracting out was certainly reasonable during the initial years when IT infrastructure and expertise was prohibitively expensive and you wouldn’t want to incur a pension liability for one or more IT employees who might not be needed should technology evolve. However, we have seen that more and more of private and public sector workplaces are computerized and the costs have come down, yet Charlottetown continues to contract out IT services at outrageously expensive rates. And the city doesn’t even have a City Engineer anymore (since amalgamation) to oversee all things engineering – these services are contracted out too, rather than have comprehensive design work performed in-house and ensure that public works construction on curbs, sidewalks, etc. is properly monitored. Your contractors are doing the design work (which changes from contractor to contractor) and then they end up supervising and QC’ing their own design work. Contract finished? Off into the night they run. You need to start performing technical work like IT and engineering in-house. It’s cheaper in the long run and the taxpayer gets better work for it (IMHO). And no, I don’t work for the city, nor a private contractor. I’m just concerned about spending money inefficiently and getting poor results for it.

]]> http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118/comment-page-1#comment-99417 Councillor Rob Lantz Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:10:45 +0000 http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118#comment-99417 Ken, I don't get it either. The city has been paying an exorbitant amount of money for hosting for years, so I've been pushing for this RFP since I was elected. The original hosting contract was negotiated back in the "Smart Communities" heyday, I believe. Ken, I don’t get it either. The city has been paying an exorbitant amount of money for hosting for years, so I’ve been pushing for this RFP since I was elected. The original hosting contract was negotiated back in the “Smart Communities” heyday, I believe.

]]> http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118/comment-page-1#comment-99416 Ken Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:04:22 +0000 http://ward3brighton.ca/blog/2008/04/14/118#comment-99416 I don't get it. Web hosting costs are a lot cheaper than $25000-50000, unless you have a web site with real heavy traffic. What am I missing here? Call John Morris at dotserving.com, pay him $40 a month, then resell that to the City thru MERK! Cha ching! I don’t get it. Web hosting costs are a lot cheaper than $25000-50000, unless you have a web site with real heavy traffic. What am I missing here? Call John Morris at dotserving.com, pay him $40 a month, then resell that to the City thru MERK! Cha ching!

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