Town of Tillsonburg's IT Transition Report
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A special Tillsonburg Council meeting was held on Tuesday, February 19 to discuss IT transition costs up to Dec. 31, 2012 pertaining to the implementation of the Town’s new IT system last fall, and to receive a report as information, CAO 13-02 IT Transitions Costs.
Tillsonburg Deputy Mayor Mark Renaud temporarily filled in for Mayor John Lessif, who was delayed, opened the meeting at 4:05 p.m. Council then proceeded to move into a closed session at approximately 4:10 p.m. to consider matters relating to the security of the property of the municipality (IT systems).
Council then moved back into an open council meeting at 6 p.m., where they moved to accept and receive report CAO 13-02, IT Transition Costs, as information.
All councillors but one, voted to support the motion.
“I just didn’t like the way things were handled,” said Councillor Brian Stephenson. “I thought there’d be more questions, I thought there’d be more debate, and it didn’t happen. There was nothing wrong with the report – the report was fine.”
Council accepted the report, and when asked where do things go from here, Stephenson replied, “It’s hard for me to comment on that – where it goes from here. I think what you see is what you get right now. We’ve accepted the report and that’s about all I can say.”
The report included a breakdown of costs totaling $160,993 pertaining to the IT transition cost last fall, up to Dec. 31, 2012.
Council heard a presentation from a representative of KPMG – the company responsible for conducting the IT transition last September. Robert Castonguay of KPMG outlined and discussed a number of areas pertaining to the IT transition during the open portion of the council meeting at 6 p.m.
The presentation detailed the initial steps taken to secure the town’s network, noticeable issues, key system issues that required immediate action, risks and dangers involved, IT best practices, standards, and code of ethics.
Upon completion, Mayor Lessif opened it up to questions from council. There were just two questions asked of Castonguay, by Councillor Stephenson.
“Mr. Castonguay, in your report you said there’s no documentation, I believe, of an external audit done?”
Castonguay replied, “At the time of our involvement with the County, too, we didn’t find any.”
Stephenson asked, holding a document up, “Are you aware of this one? Have you seen that one?”
“No sir,” replied Castonguay.
“When you say an external audit, just for the public’s (knowledge), is that something a computer does, or a person does, or both – is it a combination?” said Stephenson.
“It’s a combination of both – it’s a physical, direct verification done by individuals, network security IT personnel, that use certain applications, Till software to conduct various security assessments,” explained Castonguay.
Council had requested the information at their meeting on Nov. 26, 2012.
“We asked for this report, then we ran into Christmas holidays, and then he (KPMG) was tied up with other audits that he was doing and this happened to be the first agreeable date for all parties,” said Councillor Mel Getty.
When asked about the price tag and costs associated with the IT transition last fall, Getty said, “Yes, $160,000 is a lot of money – it’s a lot of money at any stage of the game, and it is going to be born through tax revenue. I believe that our surplus in the 2012 budget will cover that, so it’s not going to affect any tax increase this year. But saying that, it’s still $160,000 we don’t have to put in reserves so there is a long term effect to that amount of money.”
As stated in the IT Transition Costs report, all costs will be taken from part of the Town’s overall 2012 projected surplus. Fees for service to Oxford County for IT support will continue in 2013 and will be part of the 2013 operating budget.
“So the reserves are going to be less by a $160,000, which will have an impact down the road. It was a lot. Council put a stop to the work proceedings until we got an update and a report back as to the costs and so forth. Today we got that report back. We stopped it because we wanted to hear what our tax dollars were paying for.”
Getty also noted with such rapid changes today in technology, it was important to acquire a new IT system.
“We have that report, now we have to go back and think about our next steps. And our next step is obviously to have a system that will serve our needs, be secure and serve the community’s needs for years to come. And we have to get in procedures and bylaws to be followed down the road.”
Getty said he was pleased with the presentation by KPMG.
“The (KMPG rep) presented what I believe was very factual and concise summary of the forensic audit that he did while he was here. We’ll move forward from here, see what has to be done and what will be done.
“Our community’s security is priority number one for this council, immediately followed by costs associated to (it),” said Getty.
“I’m content with the report that we got – I think it answered a lot of unanswered questions that some of council may have had, and by and large, I think there’s a general feeling of yes, that was good to have.”
COST BREAKDOWN
IT Transition Costs up to December 31, 2012, presented Feb. 19, were as follows:
Canadian Security Management: $46,425
Security Management Locksmith (contracted by Canadian): $31,855
The Moving Crew: $325
County of Oxford: $17, 900
KPMG: $40,297
Miller Thomson (legal fees): $24,139
TOTAL: $160, 993