Commission Meeting Agenda Item

The IT Department purchased 12 notebook computers this winter as part of our annual hardware life cycle program. These were intended to replace staff computers that had exceeded their planned five-year service time.

However, these notebook computers and 12 additional notebook computers from the Library Computer Lab were repurposed instead to provide Town staff the ability to work from home during the Governor’s Stay at Home order. The effort required to quickly prepare these computers for remote staff use was considerable.

While staff anticipates returning these computers to their previous purpose at some point in the future, it is not yet certain that these computers will not be needed suddenly again for remote staff use.

Staff requests permission to purchase 14 additional notebook computers using contingency funds to allow the completion our original life cycle effort. If approved, staff will not request notebook computers during the next budget cycle. We would instead repurpose the computers purchased this past winter when they are no longer required to support remote staff use.