12-16-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Keis and Members of City Council FROM: Chris Heineman, City Administrator DATE: December 16, 2020 RE: Metro-INET JPA Discussion ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED Consideration of a Motion to Approve final draft of the Metro-INET Joint Powers Agreement (JPA). BACKGROUND As we have discussed previously, Metro-INET is in the process of changing from a multi-member organization lead by the City of Roseville to a proposed joint powers organization. The City Council discussed this issue at the March 25 City Council workshop and was asked to provide feedback on establishing a Joint Powers Agreement between each of the partners utilizing Metro-INET. At that time, there was some concern that small cities would have a voice in the operation of the organization, but there was general agreement that a JPA would benefit the organization going forward and that the City of Little Canada should continue to participate in Metro-INET. The City of Little Canada has partnered with the City of Roseville for information Technology (IT) services through Metro-INET for nearly fifteen years. This has been a tremendous relationship that brought professionalism and technical expertise to the IT function of our organization. Metro-INET currently provides IT services to 43 other local government entities across the north-metro in a variety of capacities. This includes everything from computers and phone networks to servers to software. A major benefit of this relationship is our membership in the Metro-INET network which is the primary driver of cost savings. This network allows entities access to current virus protection and network security which would be difficult to manage or afford on our own. Software licensing costs are also minimized for individual entities as the group's buying leverage is enhanced by the higher number of users. Without Metro-INET, we would need multiple servers for data backup and redundancy which would need to be maintained in a temperature-controlled environment. We would also need UPS battery backup units for each server to protect against power outages. The City of Roseville has found it more and more difficult to retain high quality IT employees in recent years. Information technology skills are valuable in the marketplace and Metro-INET has become a bit of a training ground for IT professionals to learn the trade and move on to a more lucrative opportunity. The City of Roseville had a dedicated IT Director for the past twenty years, and the City of Roseville’s Finance Director managed the IT Department. Both of these positions at the City of Roseville have changed over the past year, which has forced the City of Roseville and each of the Metro-INET communities to take a hard look at the organizational structure of the operation.