Community Corner

Middlefield 2.0: BOF Hopes to Solve Computer Troubles at Town Hall

Board members to seek at least two more bids to replace the town's server which at five years old is outdated, officials say.

 

There are a lot of records kept at Middlefield Town Hall. Apparently too many.

Last week, the finance board voted to move forward with replacing the town's server, a decision that was prompted, in part, by the town's recent inability to make a $1.3 million payment to Regional School District 13.

Find out what's happening in Durham-Middlefieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We haven't been able to pay anybody in over two weeks. Fortunately the school district has been very understanding of the situation," finance director Joe Geruch told board members at an Oct. 18 meeting.

Geruch said the town's server had recently been overwhelmed by a program used by the town clerk's office to the point that other programs, including email and the accounting software used to track payments to the school district, stopped working.

Find out what's happening in Durham-Middlefieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"You need more memory, you need more ability," board member Mary Wolak said.

Geruch said the town's server was built about five years ago after the previous one crashed and had a life expectancy of only about three years.

The town, which has about $10,500 remaining in its budget to pay for technology upgrades at Town Hall, recently received a bid from its current vendor for $14,200 to install a new server. 

Board member Bob Yamartino suggested that the board look into getting a bid from Apple which he said he'd learned is able to provide municipalities with server systems. 

The board eventually agreed to seek at least two more bids and said waiting any longer was not an option.

Last year, officials from Middlefield and Durham met with District 13 school officials to discuss possible savings in technology purchases but no purchasing program has materialized.

"I have no idea why it kinda died," said board chairman Lucy Petrella.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here