The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
The City Council's dissatisfaction with the Beach's technology staff has prompted a push to audit the department.
Councilman Jim Wood said he will introduce a resolution at Tuesday's meeting to have the city auditor review the finances and the operation of the Department of Communications and Information Technology, known as ComIT.
The audit would be the first since the council moved the auditor's position under its control and appointed Lyndon Remias to the post. The job used to report to the city manager.
The review stems from a one-day council retreat last month. Council members complained about outdated technology and poor customer service to city workers. Wood emphasized the technology woes faced by public safety workers, some of whom complain about outmoded radios and still fill out documents by hand.
"I don't want this to be characterized as a witch hunt," Wood said. "It's really not. It's a consistent complaint."
Wood said city workers frequently carp to him about technology problems. He wouldn't identify anyone, because he said those employees fear retribution from ComIT. The audit calls for confidential interviews with workers - from rank-and-file to department heads - to gauge the reputation of the tech staff.
There is no timeline to complete the review, although Wood suggested October as a possible deadline.
Dave Hansen, the city's technology chief, said it is expected that some workers will be unhappy with what is commonly referred to as a "help desk." Hansen said the department receives generally high marks from most workers.
"They hear the one or two horror stories as opposed to the 480 positive stories," he said of the council. "There are misfires. When you perform 130,000 '911 calls', you're going to have misfires."
Hansen said the city's executive staff welcomes the review. He suspects Remias may need to work with an outside consultant on technical issues. Remias believes his office has enough expertise to handle it all in-house.
"We don't look at this as a negative," Hansen said. "We look at this as an opportunity to improve services where negatives are identified. But we're fairly confident this will validate that... with the limited resources provided, we are in fact doing a pretty good job."
The proposed audit would:
n Analyze whether departments are charged accurately for technology services.
n Check how well ComIT responds to department needs for new technology or maintenance service.
n Study whether departments are hamstrung in their efforts to launch initiatives. Currently, hardware and software purchases must go through ComIT.
n Look into the IT staff's interactions with public safety communications, including a review of morale since the department took control of the city's E-911 call center.
Councilman Bob Dyer, who has criticized the city's Web site, said an audit is a good way to ferret out problems. He said he hopes the review addresses the specific public safety concerns raised at last month's council retreat.
"It just seems the retreat really exposed a lot of areas that deserve scrutiny and rectifying," Dyer said. "This is going to be a tool that will help."
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
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Don't over-rate the so-called government auditing experience...
Redskinfan, working for several years at the entry-level auditor position at the APA hardly qualifies Lyndon to be working at the City Auditor level. The Navy Exchange Command (NEXCOM) is a non-appropriated entity, basically a smaller Dollar Tree or Sears retail business. Sure, they abide by the Government Auditing Standards (the "yellow book") but being one of several Audit Managers at NEXCOM is a far cry from being a City Auditor. So, alright, I'll throw you a bone....I'll modify my statement to this: that Lyndon doesn't have any SUBSTANTIAL governmental auditing experience in the manner that a City Auditor position calls for. And, yes, having been an governmental internal auditor myself in Pennsylvania and northern Virginia, I'm familiar with the yellow book. Capice?
ComIT Billing Issue and Audit
I support the audit. If ComIT has nothing to hide, the audit will show it. If I were running that organization, I would welcome the audit as a way to highlight my department and my needs for additional funding and personnel. I’d welcome an audit in the fire, ems and police. :-) BTW: I’m not a supporter of ComIT being the final decision maker when it comes to public safety. Bean counters should never be the decision makers unless they have to enter and perform the services of the end users. It is easy to make the equipment decision for others when you personally do not have to enter a burning structure or risk it all in an emergency.
As for ComIT billing departments for providing support, hardware or software, I do not agree with that process. If it is acceptable, then I want to see other department getting billed for services just the same as ComIT does. Example: Everytime the fire department responds on an EMS case, the EMS department should pay the cost for the service. Does that happen? No it doesn't... So why in ComIT is it a way of life? If one city department can bill another for providing city services, then all departments should be in the charging for se
TOMT60262 Get Your Facts Straight
TOMT60262 before you go off bashing someone in public you should do your research first. I don't know where you heard that Lyndon Remias had no Government Auditing experience but Remias has many years of Governmental auditing expereince. He started his career as an auditor for the state (APA). Unless the state is not a government then you are wrong. He also was the audit manager with NEXCOM where they follow Government Auditing Standards.
Now let me ask you do you even know what Government Auding Standards are???? Have you even heard of the yellow book let alone read one??? I highly doubt it. You hear something from a so called CPA not an auditor and then you spread it as gospel. So before you continue to spread the lies and show your ignorance do some research.
DR..
I would do some research also. City agencies determine how the radios they buy are equipped-outside of programming issues. The problem you talk about was likely due to a faulty mic that was not water proof. That was an operational decison not forced upon the dept. The radios in question have been used for a long time with no problems in rough conditions. And the City has spent quite a sum replacing older units with digital capable ones for the system upgrade. There is blame to go around but one needs to make sure where the blame deservedly needs to go before casting dispersions.
Ok DR;
how does ComIT get paid? In other words, how is service paid for the seat (single computer)? If this is built into the price of the SEAT then depending on the time that this seat will be in service this cost may not be completely out of reach.
Some companies are billed from the IT department anywhere from 25 to 100 a month for one seat. It depends on the machine and the type ofwork that will be done. So a 3 to 4 year cost on a 600 dollar machine could be a thousand to FOUR thousand for the life of the machine.
But I do not know how the IT Department for VB is paid so this is only speculation. Just like the idea that 3 grand for a 600 machine is wrong. Beacuse this may be the amoritized sum paid for service for three to four years. Only the audit will tell...
Fire the Entire Bunch
When ComIT charges a city department $3000 for a $600 desktop computer, somthing is wrong. When a police supervisor cannot contact animal control officers because they are dispatched by a different system, something is wrong. When firefighters cannot call for help because of outmoded or forced upon radios (you get what Motorola syas you'll get) something is wrong.
Where incompitence goes to retire
Lord this audit has been a LONG time comming. I have had multiple chances to interact with VB IT in a previous job and there is no better pack of cluelessness going on. They cannot figure out internally the simplest things. Great example is that WHRO has to handle the streaming of City Council meetings. When WHRO got that contract they spent two days figurring it out, put it on an old server laying around and started cashing the checks. they insist on using out of date technology in everycase because they cannot bother to retrain.
If they are like most goverment IT departments they are full to the brim with the cast off of other department that have read a book and are costing to retirement. Best bet VB? Fire them all and have them compete against the open market for all those jobs. I have no doubt you would not rehire even one of them.
The only worse IT departments locally are in the schools. I can tell you horror stories about them and the local corruption going on.
One time I met Lyndon Remias....
I learned he didn't have governmental auditing experience. This is incredible lack of knowledge for the position of a City Auditor. Yesterday, I asked a CPA working for the city if the auditors have any experience in what is called Information Technology auditing and he said that as far as he knows, they don't....otherwise COMIT probably wouldn't be in the position they are. I believe an audit independent of both the City Manager and City Council would be a wiser path to take in this case.
IT, the standard whipping boy.
Never ceases to amaze me, when things aren't going well just blame IT. Hansen is right, you can't have a world class IT for a world class resort with a low class budget. Oh, and there's a reason all IT purchases are required to go through that department. It's called configuration management, a key component of network security. You wouldn't want a whole string of lawsuits because personal information was hacked, would you? Here's a suggestion. Forget the bridge, buy some better computers.
Audit
About time this department has managed to hurt public safety with its I don't care what you think attitude