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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000 11-27 EDAP EDA MEETING City of Brooklyn Center • November 27, 2000 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda -The following items are considered to be routine by the Economic Development Authority and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Commissioner so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered at the end of Commission Consideration Items. a. Approval of Minutes - Commissioners not present at meetings will be recorded as abstaining from the vote on the minutes. _ 1. Regular Session —November 13, 2000 4. Commission Consideration Item a. Resolution Amending the 2000 Earle Brown Heritage Center Budget Providing for Certain Computer Related Items • Requested Commission Action: - Motion to adopt resolution. 5. Adjournment EDA Agenda Item No. 3a MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION NOVEMBER 13, 2000 CITY HALL 1. CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Economic Development Authority (EDA) met in regular session and was called to order by President Myrna Kragness at 10:03 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL President Myrna Kragness, Commissioners Debra Hilstrom, Kay Lasman, and Ed Nelson. Commissioner Robert Peppe was absent and excused. Also present: City Manager Michael J. McCauley, Assistant City Manager Jane Chambers, Public Works Director Diane Spector, Planning and Zoning Specialist Ron Warren, City Attorney Charlie LeFevere, and Deputy City Clerk Maria Rosenbaum. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA A motion by Commissioner Hilstrom, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to approve the agenda and consent agenda. Motion passed unanimously. 3a. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion by Commissioner Hilstrom, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to approve the October 23, 2000, regular session minutes. Motion passed unanimously. 4. COMMISSION CONSIDERATION ITEMS 4a. PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING SALE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (EDA) OWNED PROPERTY LOCATED AT WILLOW LANE AND 252 11/13/00 -1- DRAFT Executive Director Michael McCauley discussed that this public hearing needs to be opened for public input and continued to the December 11, 2000, meeting for additional time to finalize the terms of the development agreement. A motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Hilstrom to open the Public Hearing. Motion passed unanimously. Jerry Blarney, 7136 Willow Lane North, addressed the Commission to compliment the City staff and Mr. Gleason on the work done with this project. A motion by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Hilstrom to continue public hearing to the December 11, 2000, meeting. Motion passed unanimously. 4b. RESOLUTION ACCEPTING QUOTATIONS AND AWARDING CONTRACT FOR DEMOLITION OF 4315 70 AVENUE NORTH, BROOKLYN CENTER, MINNESOTA Mr. McCauley discussed this resolution would accept quotations and award a contract for demolition of 4315 70`' Avenue North (Viking Discount Blinds) to Veit Companies. RESOLUTION NO. 2000-22 Commissioner Lasman introduced the following 0 owin resolution and moved its adoption: g p RESOLUTION ACCEPTING QUOTATIONS AND AWARDING CONTRACT FOR DEMOLITION OF 4315 70 AVENUE NORTH, BROOKLYN CENTER, MINNESOTA The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded b p g g y y Commissioner Nelson. Motion passed unanimously. 5. ADJOURNMENT A motion by Commissioner Hilstrom, seconded by Commissioner Lasman to adjourn the meeting at 10:10 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. President 11/13/00 -2- DRAFT EDA Agenda Item No. 4a ® Commissioner introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption: EDA RESOLUTION NO. RESOLUTION AMENDING THE 2000 EARLE BROWN HERITAGE CENTER BUDGET PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN COMPUTER RELATED ITEMS WHEREAS, the Economic Development Authority has been presented with information relative to service deficiencies in the current computer system at the Earle Brown Heritage Center; and WHEREAS, through the month of October the Earle Brown Heritage Center has an estimated revenue surplus in excess of $200,000; and _. WRERF,kS, the total cost of the computer related items of $45,490 is within the projected revenue surplus for the year. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Economic Development Authority in and for the City of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota to amend the Earle Brown Heritage Center Year 2000 budget as follows: 1. Data and voice cabling for all office areas in the amount of $15,700. 2. One (1) Intel 330T HUB or equivalent in the amount of $890. 3. One (1) HP Netserver LC2000 running Microsoft NT and SQL Server 2000 or equivalent in the amount of $11,800 4. Five (5) desktop workstations in the amount of $10,000 5. Two (2) Cisco 2620 Single Ethernet 10/100 with IP /IPX software and two (2) serial wics or equivalent in the amount of $7,100. Date President The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by commissioner and upon vote being taken thereon, the following voted in favor thereof: and the following voted against the same: whereupon said resolution was declared duly passed and adopted. MEMO To: Michael McCauley From: Brad Hoffinan Subject: Amending EBHC 2000 Budget Date: November 21, 2000 During this past year, it has become readily apparent that the current computer system at the Heritage Center is inadequate for their needs. It is a system that is eight (8) to nine (9) years old. The technology currently employed is very slow and incapable of accommodating the growing needs of the conference center. The current system (MS Access) is designed for less that five (5) users. Currently there are ten (10) to fourteen (14) users at any given time using the system. As a result of the system workload, users experience very slow performance. For example, it is not unusual for a salesperson to have to wait several hours to answer a simple inquiry about the availability of a room on a given date. At the same time it can take hours to block out the availability of a room. The impact of the current system is not limited to sales. The current system is used by the clerical staff, maintenance /setup crews, the Inn, catering and administration. The Heritage Center has been advised by our MIS Coordinator that the current system needs to be upgraded in order to adequately serve our clientele as well as perform other daily routine tasks. The focus on revamping the system is towards speed and accommodating the number of users on the system. It has been recommended that the Heritage Center undertake five (5) actions to correct the current problem. First, the Center is in need of cabling for voice and data. The cabling in existence in about ten (10) years old. It has been the cause of much down time and does not meet current data network specifications. Network equipment is located in several locations causing problems with performance, management and security. A redesign of the cabling system will address this problem. Second, the current Hub at the Center is about nine (9) years old and is a l OMB Hub. This is a speed issue with a minimum need of 100 MB. Third, the Netserver and SQL server are inadequate. Earle Brown Heritage Center currently uses ESP2000 software (Sales and Catering System) provided by Hodges & Irvine Technologies. This software was installed in January 1998. At the time of the installation, it was recommended that the Heritage Center use the Microsoft Access version of ESP2000. The MS Access version is designed for less than five (5) concurrent users /workstations. At most times the Heritage Center has between 10 -14 concurrent users utilizing the ESP2000 software. Users experience significantly slow performance of the software. Oftentimes users have to take 2 -3 times the amount of time to enter information. This affects the sales personnel's ability to provide acceptable customer service. Most times sales personnel cannot conduct business over the phone. For example, a customer calls and wants to look at dates for an event. The sales personnel has to write down the dates the client is interested in, check the ESP2000 software, and • • Michael McCauley Page 2 November 21, 2000 call them back, oftentimes playing "telephone tag ". Sales personnel should be able to handle this client request on the initial telephone conversation. Because of errors associated with current software configuration, most users have to re -boot their computers 3 -6 times a day. The recommendation from Hodges & Irvine Technologies is to move to the Microsoft SQL Server version of ESP2000. The costs associated with this would be the purchase of a NT Server running MS SQL Server. LOGIS would assist the Information Technology Coordinator with the hardware set -up. Hodges & Irvine Technologies support would move the MS Access database to the NT server converting the data to MS SQL Server. There would be no additional cost from Hodges & Irvine Technologies. Fourth, two (2) routers are necessary. City Hall and Earle Brown Heritage Center are linked by a Tl data line connection. Hardware that currently allows this communication is called a Bridge. A ABridge@ is located at both ends, one at City Hall, the other at the Heritage Cewer. The Bridge equipment is over eight years old. Bridge technology is considered obsolete and is being replaced by router technology. Fifth, there is a need for five (5) desktop workstations. Hodges & Irvine Technologies, provider of ESP2000 software (Sales and Catering System), recommends for optimal performance the minimum computer workstation be a Pentium 11 400 MHZ with a 128MB of RAM. The computers requested for replacement are below the recommended configuration. The following computers would be replaced: Two (2) Pentium 233 with 32MB of RAM and Three (3) Pentium 266 with 128MB of RAM. The need for the upgrades in the Heritage Center's computer system is immediate. The total cost of the proposed amendment is $45,490. It would be my recommendation that this amendment to the Earle Brown Budget for 2000 be financed out of a projected revenue surplus. Through September, 2000, the Heritage Center has a revenue surplus in excess of $275,000. At this time, our revenue surplus for the year should be in excess of $200,000.