THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602200104
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
The Town Council has given Town Manager Jim De Grand approval to go shopping for new computers.
The council, which met Feb. 13 for the first time in its newly renovated council chambers at 8 Windsor Blvd., directed De Grand to comparison shop for prices on a new computer system for the town and report back to the council in March.
The town, which last bought computers in 1990, needs a system capable of handling newer software programs, De Grand said.
``With the kind of growth that Windsor is looking at during the next few years, we really need to get on board with new computers,'' De Grand said. ``And we need to act now if we are going to get ahead of that growth.''
No specific growth projections are available now, Town Treasurer Pat Mann said.
Much of the anticipated growth depends on the town's connection to the Hampton Roads Sanitation District sewerage system, scheduled to occur in the next two years, De Grand said.
Once Windsor is hooked up to the HRSD's lines, it will be more important than ever for the town to have access to a new computer system, -De Grand said. In order for town residents to be billed for sewerage services, HRSD requires participating localities to file monthly reports of citizens' water use.
HRSD will not accept paper reports; it requires municipalities to send this data as electronic files via computer.
``And that policy is not likely to change within the next two years,'' De Grand said. If the town decides not to get a new computer, it would still have to find a way for the water report to be transmitted electronically, he added.
A new computer system would save Windsor time, manpower and, ultimately, money, De Grand said.
For example, De Grand said, current town computers are not powerful enough to allow word-processing work at the same time the town's monthly water bills are being printed. New computers also would enable town officials to access county tax records electronically for the most up-to-date information on the town's taxpayers. Now it takes a phone call and time out for county officials to locate the information or to use dated information.
In other action, the council appointed David Hodgeson to the town's Board of Zoning Appeals, filling a seat left vacant by the appointment of the council's newest member, Cecil Eley. The zoning board's appointment is due to expire June 30, 1999. by CNB