After three departments approached information technology staff complaining of slow internet and long data-transfer waits, Geauga County Commissioners approved a plan to bring the new administrative building up to speed July 6.
After three departments approached information technology staff complaining of slow internet and long data-transfer waits, Geauga County Commissioners approved a plan to bring the new administrative building up to speed July 6.
Geauga County Automatic Data Processing Chief Administrator and County Auditor Chuck Walder told commissioners the reason some programs and services — especially New World, the county’s financial software — were running too slowly in the new building is because its internet service is provided by Windstream, while servers departments need to access are in a building served by Spectrum.
“About five or six months ago, three departments approached ADP complaining of some latency issues getting on New World,” Walder said, referring to the Geauga County Building Department, county Job and Family Services and the commissioners’ office. “We did some research and we determined that New World is not technically on the internet, it’s on our intranet. So, when you transfer from Windstream, which is the provider for this building, to Spectrum, which is a provider where the servers are downtown, you build the latency into the call. And that results in slow response.”
Walder said the obvious solution is to push all services to the cloud, which is part of the county’s IT plan going forward but will not be achieved for about 18 months.
As a stopgap solution, Walder said the county will convert the administrative building to Spectrum internet service.
The Windstream account will be repurposed to serve the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, he added.
“We can repurpose a different provider in their facility much easier than here. We generally have one trunk coming in and out,” he said. “We will either use it as a redundant circuit in the sheriff’s department or for their 911 system. That’s the plan.”
“So … we’re not going to see any major differences or any increases or anything like that? It’ll just be basically just taking on that service,” Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri asked.
The 60-month contract is quoted at $1,100 per month, not to exceed $66,250 total, Walder said, adding the cost would be entered in the ADP budget as normal internet service.
“But I think in an effort to get people more efficient, rather than the reports that are being run at JFS taking hours, they can reduce it to minutes,” he said. “It’ll increase the performance of the system.”
Walder said once the contract was signed, the conversion would likely start in the next couple of months, as determined by the schedule of the internet providers.
“It probably won’t make it for this budget season, but it will thereafter,” Walder said.
Commissioners also approved a $59,000 payment to McTigue & Colombo, a Columbus-based firm hired to represent the Geauga County Board of Elections in their lawsuit against the county. The suit was settled in May, with the court-ordered payment due by June 26.
In emails to BOE attorney Corey Colombo, Walder apologized for the oversight, adding his department would overnight the check once approved by commissioners at their July 6 session.
County Administrator Gerry Morgan said the delay occurred due to a mix-up on the financial side of the commissioners’ office. The agreement was filed without being processed as an invoice, he said.
“The money was made ready for payment, but they were waiting for an invoice,” he said. “When we received notice from our attorney last week that the attorney had not received payment, the settlement agreement was processed like an invoice.”
The check to Colombo was issued and mailed July 6.
