Plans to upgrade parish computers and the parish web page took top priority at the St. Charles Parish council meeting on Monday night.
“I’ve looked at other parish web pages like St. Tammany and other locations and ours is in bad shape by comparison,” Councilman Marcus Lambert said. “When people look at relocating to our area, the first thing they do is look at the Internet. Redesigning our web page should be top priority.”
Upgrades could include video streaming, possible online bill payment capabilities for parish residents, and Intranet communication services so co-workers throughout the various parish offices will have access to information. Upgrades also include a computer technology help desk assistant, which is a live person for people to call to get assistance with troubleshooting parish computer problems. That position is currently filled by a temporary person until all of the other goals can be worked out.
Kendall Stall, director of the information technology department, has gotten the assistance of an outside firm to help with the upgrades.
“I would like to establish a Technology Council with the purpose of bringing local businesses and industry representatives together with technology oriented companies and institutions in order to promote technology initiatives in the parish.” he said.
James Hartman and Associates conducted a review of the parish computer systems and told the council about areas of weakness and vulnerabilities in the parish network and other systems that needed to be strengthened.
“The current system in place is antiquated,” Stall said. “I had 90 days to come up with a short term plan, but to complete all of the upgrades, a three to four year long range plan is probably what we’re looking at,” he told the council. “Adding on additional staff will be an essential part of the upgrades.”
The budget for the information technology department that supports all parish computers is about $360,000.
“Mr. St. Pierre has made a commitment toward using technology to improve the efficiencies at which the parish operates,” Stall said. “Our goal in the Technology Department is to provide the technology and support that will enable parish employees to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible while delivering services to the citizenry.”
Finance Director Lori Toups told the council that some of the money for computer technology services was disbursed to individual departments.
“We currently have a staff of three and will need to add approximately two to three additional staff members,” she said.
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