Much frustration was aired at last Monday night’s (December 16) ABC monthly meeting, in relation to a new IT system which proved faulty on several occasions during committee meetings – things were actually so bad that some meetings had to be abandoned.
As chair of the Environmental Services committee, Alderman Margaret Tinsley was particularly vocal on the matter, her main issue being that no one from the company having supplied the new system was in attendance to sort out any teething problems.
In sharp contrast, council officers, and in particular Democratic Services officer, Ruth McClelland, were in for much praise as they did their utmost best to remedy the situation amid much stress, even though they were not at fault.
To be on the ‘safe side’ while the matter is being investigated, councillors were asked to attend last Monday night’s monthly meeting remotely via Zoom.
When the matter was mentioned at the monthly meeting, council chief executive, Mr Roger Wilson issued an apology to the chamber, stating: “I would just like to apologise to all members for the fact that tonight’s meeting is being held completely in remote format.
“Members, you are aware that during the course of the month we’ve had some problems with the operation of the discussion equipment in the chamber, which has led to some meetings having to be abandoned.
“These faults were down to the failure of on one occasion a server, and on another a software bug that caused the system to crash.
“Both of these issues were completely outside of our control within the council.
“As members know, the original discussion system that was installed in 2014 in the chamber was starting to fail and was needing an upgrade, as it was getting difficult to find replacement parts.
“I think it’s important that I also commend all of our officers from both the Democratic Services and the ICT teams who have been working tirelessly to make sure that the new system is operational.
“Officers are working extremely closely with our provider, as well as the suppliers, to make sure that we identify and fix the fault and go through extensive testing of the system, before our meetings resume at the start of January.”
Alderman Mark Baxter (DUP, Lagan River) explained that he was deeply unhappy with the technical issues which had marred council proceedings, and he too praised council staff who had done their best to address those issues: “Just to register our disappointment, especially [regarding] the full council meeting.
“[I want] to thank the IT staff and Democratic Services staff on Council who worked very hard to try to iron out the problems in the chamber.
“I was very disappointed that the company that we invested a lot of money in, after the problems we had with a couple of committees, didn’t even see it necessary to come to the last meetings.
“We’ve had to abandon two meetings now, and here we are tonight on Zoom.
“I know they will be working hard now to repair the reputational damage done, but I have to say, for a council of this size, this is a hugely disappointing development.
“The old system was breaking down, but at least it worked. At least there was staff there who knew how it worked.
“With this new system there was nobody there from the company. I think lessons need to be learned from this.
“[I want] to pay tribute to those staff who were trying their best for something that wasn’t their fault.”
Alderman Margaret Tinsley (DUP, Craigavon DEA) felt particularly strongly on the matter, stating: “I want to commend our IT staff and Ruth who, on our Environmental Services committee meeting [on December 3], were under tremendous pressure that evening, very stressed to try and get the system up and running again, and that stress and pressure was totally unfair and they should never have been put into that situation.
“The council was fully aware of the issues with the new chamber system following past meetings.
“Number one, the full council meeting three weeks ago [on November 25], we had major issues on that and we still have those same issues.
“On the evening before our Environmental Services committee, we also had another committee which had to be adjourned.
“Whenever a company introduce a new system, it is the norm for staff from that supplier to be there in person to ensure that any issues [are fixed]. That hasn’t actually happened.
“And on the evening of our Environmental Services committee, the IT staff and Ruth tried on several occasions to get through to the company, and didn’t get through right away. That again put extra pressure on them.
“The whole process has just been totally unacceptable. The system has cost an absolute fortune and at present it’s not fit for purpose.
“Officers on that evening put out a full agenda of reports for presenting. Reports that took a lot of time to put together, and Environmental Services wasn’t the only committee.
“Now these reports have to wait to the end of January before the decisions and the ratification can actually be made.
“I would ask the chief executive, when is the company actually coming over to address these concerns in person?
“Can he actually confirm that we have not paid any of the money towards the cost of this system, and that we won’t be until this system is actually fully functioning?”
The council chief executive replied: “It’s a local firm that is being used and they have been in with council officers since and are working hard, both on software and any physical upgrades that are required. That is now in the process of being tested.
“No payment has been made, and no payment will be made until officers are satisfied that the system is operating the way that we would expect it to.”
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