DARLINGTON - The Lafayette County IT/GIS meeting was called to order Friday, Jan. 26, 2018 at 9:00 p.m. by chair David Hammer.
    Abby Haas, Lafayette County Economic Development Director, unveiled the official Lafayette County logo (see insert). In a public vote the logo had a 3 to 1 margin advantage. The committee approved the official logo and a resolution will be brought to the County Board for final approval.
    The new logo will be used on letterhead, agendas, clothing, website, marketing materials, official documents, etc. Haas said, “The brand standard states the logo cannot be skewed, colors cannot be changed, certain fonts are to be used in and with the logo.”
    Tony Ruesga, County Board member asked if all departments must use the new logo? Haas said, “Yes, unless the already have a logo, that would supersede this. Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department, Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County, Lafayette Manor and ADRC already have logos. Other departments will use the new logo and tag the department with matching fonts. Department heads were advised to use up their current supplies of envelopes, etc. as it will be cheaper to roll into this logo change.
    Haas stated that she has not been able to find any documentation that indicated Lafayette County ever had an official county logo in the past. Christine Douglas, Lafayette County IT Support Specialist designed the logo.
Web Site
    Haas then showed the committee the new Lafayette County Website that the website design team has been working on. The website design team consists of Haas, Lauree Aulik, GIS Coordinator/Land Information, Max Blackbourn, Lafayette County Conservation/Planning and Zoning – Conservation Technician, Kriss Marion, county board member and Laurie Monson, Lafayette County Clerk, Chief Deputy. The company that the group has been working with is Municode of Tallahassee, Fla.
    Haas demonstrated the website and showed the benefits it would provide for the county. Haas said, “First and foremost tourism with several features to welcome possible tourists to our county.” The site will also give access to land information and mapping; employment; online services (pay online, forms online); calendar, resolutions, agendas and minutes; Sheriff’s page and much more.
    The committee thought the group was headed in the right direction. The website is projected to be completed in six months.
IT Director Position
    Current IT Director, Jason Walter has resigned from his position to take another job. Walter has stayed on part-time to help with the transition of establishing a new director. Sandy Russell, Human Resources director, stated they have received fourteen applications for a new IT Director. The posting will be closed Jan. 31.
Computer Stuff
    Walter has received bids from two companies for backup services. These companies would be on call to solve problems within the county’s computer systems. The prices that were bid are TC Networks of Dubuque, Iowa at $80 per hour and Ricoh at $120 - $200 per hour. TC Network knows our systems as they have worked on them in the past. Motion made and approved to contract with TC Network.
    Walter has also received a quote from Initiative Business Systems of Madison of $122 per hour, to replace the AS/400 an IBM server system that the county’s uses. The AS/400 is to be replaced in Sept. 2019. The committee decided to put this on future agendas so the new IT Director could have input.
    In other business:
    •Discussed the budgeting side of replacing the AS/400 and Multi-Purpose Building back-up servers. Lindsay Van Matre, Finance Director, stated the county will be borrowing $80,000 to take care of the projects.
    •A GIS/Land Information report was given by Aurik. The group held training for the county’s mapping website in Dec. and Jan. with a great response. At least 75 persons completed the training. Aurik said they had great feedback.
    •GIS/Land Information is remapping north of Belmont. They have found many errors in current surveys.
    •Approved sending GIS Coordinator (Aurik) and IT Technician to Standard Query Language (SQL) classes. SQL is used to communicate with a database.
    •Long Range Planning was discussed.
    •County’s Association will provide training free of charge to County Boards. Marion thought the whole County Board should take classes such as Strategic Planning; Meeting Protocol and Policies & Procedures. A work group will be formed to move this along that included Becky Taylor - Lafayette County Treasurer, Haas, Van Matre, Marion, Russell, Aurik, Carla Jacobson, Lafayette County Clerk and Mr. Nutter.