Kendall Stall, the parish’s Information Technology director, plans to merge the council’s e-mail server with the parish administration’s e-mail server, which means that his department will have access to council members’ home computers.
Council members use those computers, which were purchased by the parish, to conduct routine business, such as sending or receiving e-mails.
Stall explained that the reason he wants to merge both servers is because it will help the offices run more efficiently, saving $20,000 in the process.
“I met with Parish Council Chairman Dennis Nuss and Parish President V. J. St. Pierre,” Stall said. “I can’t speak for Dennis, but Mr. St. Pierre thought it was a good idea.”
Stall says safeguards and security passwords can be put in place to protect the privacy of the council. However, any information on a parish computer is public record.
“In my opinion, our parish has made tremendous progress over the years by having the administrative and legislative branches of parish government share services where it is appropriate to do so,” Stall wrote in an email to Nuss. “Some of the shared services include office space and utilities, cellular and PBX phone systems, intranet, wireless network etc..”
Stall says it would be much more efficient and cost effective to share Internet and virus protection services and have one technology staff to support it all.
“Appropriate measures could be put into place protecting the privacy of council information and to keep the integrity of the council domain name,” he said. “Because of the current setup, the parish is acquiring more servers than necessary, therefore requiring additional services to support them – both are huge expenses.”
Since the start of St. Pierre’s administration, there has been some criticism that the changes being implemented by new appointees are similar to the way the governing body of the St. Charles Parish School Board operates.
Stall says he’s aware of that criticism but says it’s simply not true.
“The parish is light years behind the school board, especially when it comes to information technology,” he said. “We’re just not that good.”
Stall says he’s not trying to have access to information that he isn’t supposed to see.
“I will be willing to sign a confidentiality agreement with the Parish Council if it will make them feel better about this transition,” he said. “I’m just trying to move the council forward into the information technology age.”
Stall admits that he only sought the opinion of Nuss before making this decision and not the other council members.
“I didn’t see the need to speak to anyone else because Dennis is the chairman and I thought he represented the council,” he said. “A change of this type can be very confusing and technically difficult for some individuals.
The technology department will work very closely with the council by providing training and assistance as needed.”
Stall will also be replacing the paper council meeting agendas with electronic ones. He says that is something Nuss asked him to do.
“The laptops are being purchased for each council member to use when they attend council meetings from now on,” he said. “They will have the option of not producing paper copies and that will save the parish money also.”
Stall says that the media will have access to the parish agendas, but they will have to be accessed via an electronic request.
Currently, Stall is not responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the council server.
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