1996-05-20 Work Session
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 25
WORK SESSION, MAY 20, 1996PAGE 405
ASSEMBLY
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners held a Work
Session on Monday, May 20, 1996, at 2:15 P.M. in Room 501 of the
New Hanover County Administration Building, 320 Chestnut Street,
Wilmington, North Carolina.
Members present were: Commissioners Sandra Barone; William A.
Caster; William E. Sisson, Jr.; Vice-Chairman E. L. Mathews, Jr.;
Chairman Robert G. Greer; County Manager, Allen O'Neal; County
Attorney, Wanda M. Copley; and Clerk to the Board, Lucie F.
Harrell.
Chairman Greer called the Work Session to order and stated the
purpose of the meeting was to hear a presentation on Internet from
the Director of MIS, Bill Clontz.
County Manager O'Neal reported the MIS Department has prepared
the framework for allowing New Hanover County to join the Internet
System. He expressed appreciation to MIS Director Clontz and his
Staff for an excellent job in preparing this information, and he
requested the Board to decide if the County should move forward
with going on-line.
PRESENTATION ON INTERNET SYSTEM
MIS Director Clontz reported there are several types of
activities that can be performed on the Internet such as browsing
or surfing on the Worldwide Webb to navigate around a webb of
computers that circle around the world. This presentation will
concentrate mainly on browsing and how information can be accessed.
The information highway is a framework of six to eight extremely
fast telephone systems throughout the State of North Carolina.
When New Hanover County goes on line, this will mean that the
County has a termination point. The County is one of three
counties that has access to this line that is owned by the State of
North Carolina. Through negotiations with the State, New Hanover
County has received on-line service free, which normally would cost
$3,000 per month.
Equipment has been installed to provide the County with
security from outside sources; however, internally, the problem of
being sure employees do not spend too much time browsing the
Internet will have to be controlled by each individual department
head.
County Manager O'Neal asked if a mechanism would be in place
to detect if a particular employee or department head had been
spending too many hours on the Internet?
MIS Director Clontz responded that history files can be
maintained; however, the County would not be storing history in a
central file. The Internet System will provide an individual
system that will reflect a history of what an individual has used,
and this information can be retrieved by going into the file.
The following information was presented on the home page
number for New Hanover County:
(1)Front Page for New Hanover County: A picture of the New
Hanover County Courthouse and its logo.
(2)News Section: Current news events listed under local, state,
and national news around the world through linking to the
information already on line.
(3)Search System: This system can search for information
worldwide with knowledge of one or two words, such as waste-
to-energy, and receive volumes of information on this topic.
(4)County Home Page: Each department on Internet will have a
home page defining the responsibilities and activities of the
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 25
WORK SESSION, MAY 20, 1996PAGE 406
department. The home page was presented for the Governing
Body Office with profiles for each County Commissioner
providing a brief biographical summary, years of service on
the Board, committees on which they serve as the County's
representative, and a list of memberships to other
organizations. Pages were presented showing the schedule of
regular meetings, current and past agendas, an action agenda
for the last meeting, committees appointed by the Board,
vacancies on those committees, and the latest advertisement
placed in the newspaper for recruitment of applicants to fill
the vacancies.
Information was presented on the general topics of other
County Departments with an alphabetical listing of the
departments. Under Human Resources, information is available
on regulations governing sick leave, personal leave, leave of
absence, and benefits, which will save numerous telephone
calls and a tremendous amount of staff time for the Human
Resources Department.
Information was presented on the Library, the only department
that is currently on the Internet System. This system has
been of tremendous benefit to the library users throughout the
County in referencing materials.
(5)GIS Information: A map was presented showing the major road
systems in the subdivisions throughout New Hanover County.
Orthophotos were presented of the County when developing the
data base for the GIS System. The dimensions of the
orthophotos are extremely accurate and have proven to be very
beneficial to many departments, particularly the Tax
Department in determining actual boundary lines for land
parcels.
After further presentations on the various components of the
County Departments, discussion was held on whether the County
should use the Internet System.
Chairman Greer spoke in favor of New Hanover County going on-
line and suggested the provision of a lap top computer for each
County Commissioner.
After discussion of the ability to quickly access information,
such as the latest legislative bills and other pertinent
information as well as the ability to use E-Mail, it was the
general consensus of the Board to authorize Staff to proceed with
the County joining the Internet System.
Chairman Greer and Commissioner Caster Excused from the Work
Session
Chairman Greer and Commissioner Caster left the meeting at
2:45 P.M. due to prior commitments.
A demonstration was presented on reviewing bills introduced in
the N. C. House and N. C. Senate. A list was shown on all bills
introduced and the daily activities of the General Assembly as well
as how the bill can be printed.
ADJOURNMENT
Vice-Chairman Mathews expressed appreciation to MIS Director
Clontz and Jon de Faut for an excellent presentation and adjourned
the meeting at 4:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucie F. Harrell
Clerk to the Board