Over $40K for Laptops for Town Council? This is needed?

Vienna Council OK’s Purchase of Laptops for Its Members

by Brian Trompeter
November 11, 2009

The Vienna Town Council is moving ahead with plans to buy laptop computers for its members and upgrade audio-visual capabilities in the council’s chamber at Town Hall.

According to a report authored by town information-technology employees Craig Griffin and Brian Farrell, presented at the Town Council’s Nov. 9 work session, the town would need to purchase at least seven laptops - one for each council member - but 11 would provide one for everyone at the dais.

The town, like most Virginia jurisdictions, will face harrowing budget prospects next year. But the computer purchases would be financed not from the general fund but Public, Education and Government (PEG) funds paid by cable franchises within the town.

Two cable franchises now pay, in quarterly installments, about $110,000 per year in PEG funds, said Vienna Town Manager John Schoeberlein. The town’s PEG account balance stands at $343,000, he said.

The laptops and electrical improvements to the dais likely would cost about $16,000 and agenda-management software an additional $25,000, Schoeberlein said.

Laptop computers are highly portable and typically last from three to five years. However, they can be a nuisance to carry around and are more susceptible to theft and damage than desktop computers, the report read.

Council members are considering wireless capabilities for the computers, which would necessitate fewer modifications to the semicircular dais. However, holes might have to be cut into the dais’ angled surfaces anyway so the computers do not take up too much of Town Council members’ work space, said Griffin, the town’s information-technology administrator.

The council may wish to invest in docking stations for the laptops, which would cost $125 to $250 each, Griffin said. The stations would provide power directly instead of through the computers’ batteries and offer Internet access via wired connections, which tend to be faster, more secure and more reliable than wireless service, he said.

The town makes audio recordings of its meetings at Town Hall, with the exception of Town Council work sessions, using an aging tape-recorder system. Unlike many jurisdictions, the town does not record meetings on videotape or broadcast them via local cable services.

If the council so desires, PEG funds also could be spent on audio-visual upgrades in the council chamber, such as electronic overhead projects, digital video projectors for PowerPoint presentations and monitors that would allow the public to see better displays being shown to the council.

Vienna town meetings for many years have featured transparencies projected on side walls, using an old-fashioned overhead projector, and maps and plans on poster boards set on easels facing the council, not the audience.

Town information-technology employees now will come up with a laptop-computer purchase proposal to present to the council.

Council member George Lovelace presented data on laptop computers that could be bought for $475 each. Griffin cautioned that because the computers would be used in the public domain, they would need professional-level software and likely cost $800 to $1,000 apiece.

The town purchases many computers through Dell’s refurbishment program, which sells used-but-modern computers that have been wiped clean of previous data.

Refurbished computers, however, often are outfitted with disparate software packages. Town officials probably should buy new laptops to ensure that recipients’ computers have equal capabilities, Griffin said.

“I don’t want people to have laptop envy,” he said.