Item 9 - On Line Computer Access by the Public via Internet
AGEND) -EPORT SUMl\fARY
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
-- FROM: James L. Bowersox, City Ma~
INITIATED BY: JDh. D. Fit,h. A"j,t,.t City "'.,..,~
Marjorie K. Wahlsten, City Clerlcr,~ .
Patrick R. Foley, Principal Management nalyst
DATE: September 19, 1995
SUBJECT: On Line Computer Access by the Public via Internet
ABSTRACT
At the August 3, 1995 City Council workshop on Goals and Objectives, the City Council
requested staff proceed with making agendas and staff reports available to the public
via on-line computer access, and suggested the Public, Educational, and Governmental
funds (PEG) contributed by the cable companies would be an appropriate source of
funding. Staff is recommending that the City Council authorize a City of Poway web
site on the Internet's World Wide Web and appropriate funds to contract with an
Internet host provider, an Internet access service and purchase computer equipment.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
, This item is not subject to CEQA review.
FISCAL IMPACT
As a condition of their cable franchises, Cox Communications and Southwestern Cable
contributed $125,000 to the City for a public, educational, and governmental fund.
This action will appropriate $10,000 from Fund 714 to City Clerk's accounts 100-011-
1799 and 100-011-6122b.
ADDITIONAL PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND CORRESPONDENCE
A copy of this staff report was sent to Larry Cruse.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council authorize a City of Poway web site be
established on the Internet's World Wide Web and appropriate $10,000 from the PEG fund
to contract with an Internet host and an Internet access service for one year and
purchase computer equipment.
ACTION
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CITY OF POWAY
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: James L. Bowersox, City Man~
INITIATED BY: John D. Fitch, Assistant City Manager~l'\
Marjorie K. Wahlsten, City Clerk~
Patrick R. Foley, Principal Manageme Analyst
DATE: September 19, 1995
SUBJECT: On Line Computer Access by the Public via Internet
BACKGROUND
On August 3, 1995, during the City Council's discussion of Goals & Objectives,
Council member Emery requested that staff "speed up" the process of making City
Council agendas and staff reports available to the public by computer.
Additionally, Larry Cruse recently appeared before the City Council under
Public Oral Communications requesting reports on computer disk. Cox Cable has
estimated approximately 68% of Poway households have personal computers with
the potential to access the Internet through services such as America OnLine,
CompuServ and Prodigy.
Several cities have home pages on the World Wide Web, the most popular part of
the Internet and provide many types of information about their community. The
Home pages for San Diego and Davis are attached. Staff proposes that Poway
establish such a site and, initially, provide basic information such as the
agenda and staff reports, parks and recreation information, and a "who does
what" directory of city services and phone numbers. This can be expanded to
other types of information in the future if desired.
FINDINGS
Rather than rely on a staff person to support the Internet access, the City
would contract with an Internet Service provider such as Webs Are Us to host
the City's web site. This approach will allow the City to get on line quickly
and releases staff from the technical burdens. The service provider would
register the domain name for the City and will market the web site by getting
Poway's domain name in the appropriate Internet directories. They will
provide staff with a monthly tracking report regarding "visits" to the Poway
web site. They handle all aspects of maintenance, security, and hardware and
software upgrades.
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- On Line Computer Access
September 19, 1995
Page Two
Staff will be responsible for creating and transmitting to the provider the
information on the "home page". A standard home page is a front page with
boxes to click on to get more information. Each box is another page. Staff
would propose to start with agendas, parks and recreation information, and a
city directory of services. Webs are Us would establish File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) links from the agenda front sheets to the staff reports so the
entire agenda report could be down loaded onto an individual's computer.
A stand alone computer, not tied into the City's system, and a modem would be
used to transmit data to Webs Are Us. This eliminates the security concerns
of unauthorized access to other City data. The specifications and vendor are
the same the library system is using for their Internet connections. This data
would be organized according to file names and an agreed upon format in order
to transmit data consistently. The City Clerk will assume responsibility for
providing the data to Webs Are Us.
Internet access would allow the City to see what Poway's home page and
information looks like to the public and also provide the staff and City
Council access to other Internet information. Staff proposes contracting with
Sierra Net to provide this access.
.- ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This item is not subject to CEQA review.
FISCAL IMPACT
Costs for this project are as follows:
Services:
Webs Are Us - design and set up $ 395 one time
10 megabytes storage 1,9S0 annually
Internet Domain Name 50 one time
Sierra Net - unlimited access 300 annually
Phone line installation for modem 100 one time
Eouioment:
HP computer, monitor, modem, color printer
and 3 year on-site maintenance agreement 6.100 one time
TOTAL $S.925
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On Line Computer Access
September 19, 1995
Page Three
As a condition of their cable franchises, Cox Communications and Southwestern
Cable contributed $125,000 to the City for a public, educational, and
governmental (PEG) fund. This action will appropriate $10,000 from Fund 714
to City Clerk's Accounts 100-011-1799 and -6122b.
ADDITIONAL PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND CORRESPONDENCE
A copy of this report was sent to Larry Cruse.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council authorize a City of Poway web site be
established on the Internet's World Wide Web; and appropriate $10,000 from the
PEG fund for a one year contract with Webs Are Us to host and market the
City's information; Sierra Net to provide Internet access to a stand alone
computer at City Hall; and to purchase the necessary computer equipment.
Attachments: Sample Home pages
2-c:\wp\.gendo\;nt.rnet.rpt
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City of San Diego America's Finest City
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Host of the 1996 Republican National Convention
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. Calendar of events in and around Davis
. City Government
. Entertainment
. Education
. Community OQtanizations
· Employment and Job Opportunities
. Environmental Issues
. Bus inesses
. Valuable Local Resources/Miscellaneous
. Tourist/New Resident Information
. Libraries
Input a.nd suqqestions are always welcome at
msm,.?s.'ik@wlJi'illdco.d.1ViS:{';i.liS
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