Discuss and consider approval of the purchase of computer hardware for Town IT system.

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

Over the last several fiscal years the Town has reduced its use of physical servers by transitioning to cloud storage and cloud-based versions of applications where it’s made sense to do so. However, there are certain Town services and applications that are unable to transition to the cloud. The reasons for the continued reliance on physical servers are tied mainly to public safety and certain functions/services within those departments that can’t become cloud-based (e.g. dispatch services). There are three servers associated with the fire department, one with the police department, and one with all Town services. The Town’s IT service provider maintains a hardware replacement plan that tracks the useful life and replacement timelines for servers and other electronic devices utilized by town staff. Physical servers, like PC’s, have a useful life and need to be replaced.

This motion is scored as EXPANDS_GOVERNMENT (Impact Weight: 2.8/10). Under the Bastiat Liberty Watchdog Index, measures that increase tax rates or fee schedules, issue new debt or Certificates of Obligation, expand regulatory/zoning restrictions on private land use, or authorize unbudgeted spending expansions reduce an official's Freedom Score when voted YES (and reward dissenting NO votes).