The Meadowlands Mayor’s Council, a coalition of the mayors of the 14 towns of the Meadowlands district, attended a presentation about the new Municipal Technology Initiative by Rutgers University representatives on Monday.
The presentation took place at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s (NJMC’s) headquarters in Lyndhurst. The Meadowlands Technology Initiative (MTI) is a $150,000 partnership between the NJMC and the Rutgers University Center for Information Management, Integration, and Connectivity (CIMIC).
CIMIC specialists will evaluate the technology needs of Meadowlands municipalities and suggest collaborative solutions like sharing services and equipment, or using the combined needs of multiple towns to increase buying power by purchasing equipment in bulk.
“We’re not just talking about technology,” said NJMC spokesperson Chris Gale. “We’re also talking about the process of cooperation.”
Mayor Dennis Elwell was at the meeting, and he said that the initiative will be useful, especially to smaller towns in the district.
“I think it is a very positive thing that the Meadowlands Commission is doing,” said Mayor Elwell. “It will enable smaller towns who can’t afford luxuries. There are town halls with three people in the building. It will allow them to upgrade.”
A quick pace of technological advancement in recent years has put town on different trajectories of compatibility for further growth.
“What we have in mind is to develop a model that includes different possibilities, not just what we have now,” said Doctor Nabil Adam, Professor and Director of CIMIC. “It should be an ongoing process and a dynamic model to make sure that whatever we do now will actually go on to be a service to the government and citizens in the future. We have to make sure the model is current.”
The CIMIC professionals will gather information and determine what can be upgraded and what needs to be replaced. Some computers will be usable for some functionalities, but others might need to be replaced. “If you look at municipalities, you find differences in terms of how they actually use their computers to put together their infrastructure in terms of management and their residents,” said Adam. “What we need to do is really look at what is the current status. Each municipality has different hardware and software, different internet providers, different practice and protocols for dealing with security, and separate software licenses, and backup and recovery protocols and procedures.”
Elwell feels that while the town’s computer system is up to date, they are understaffed in terms on maintenance. “We have some computers, but no computer technicians,” said Elwell. “We have one in house, but there come times when things get beyond him and we have to outsource. This is an opportunity to join in with a shared service. If Rutgers can bring in professionals, Secaucus can use it.”
Elwell also said that Secaucus can benefit from increased buying power from the commission.
“In some areas, they’ll joint-purchase supplies and CD ROMS,” said Elwell. “Another thing is buying time on the internet collectively to reduce the cost for us.”
Towns can also help in terms of backing up essential data and systems for each other.
“If Secaucus’s systems go down, it would be good to have that info stored somewhere else so the system can come back online for citizens,” Adam said.
Municipalities sharing services and equipment is nothing new. Secaucus currently shares a boom truck with Guttenberg and West New York. The NJMC recently bought three vehicles for that the municipalities can use. Adam said that it is a slow process, beginning with data gathering. How long that stage takes depends on how many towns want to participate.
“The municipalities who jump on this will be through the analysis phase and looking towards the different solutions in eight months to a year,” said Gale.
After the analyses are all complete, the researchers will create possible solutions, and the final step will be to create a process for reaching those solutions and purchasing equipment.
Elwell will present the initiative to the council at Tuesday’s meeting. If they think it is a good idea, the NJMC will write up a memorandum of agreement which will come before the council for approval.