Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Cross Office Building, Room 105, Augusta

At 1:07pm the InforME Board meeting was called to order by Chairman, Dick Thompson.   

Board Members Present
•	Dick Thompson, Chair
•	Matthew Dunlap
•	Marilyn Lutz
•	Dick Hinkley
•	Richard Trahey
•	Deb Carson
•	Dan Gwadosky
•	Chistopher Pinkham
•	Ralph Caruso
•	Erin Hutchins

Others Present 
•	Kelly Hokkanen, InforME 
•	Casey Faiman, InforME 
•	Paul Sandlin, eGov office
•	Lisa Leahy,  eGov Office

I.	Adoption of December 21, 2005 Meeting Minutes
Adoption of the minutes was temporarily tabled until a quorum of members was present.  A quorum became available after 1:30 PM.
Motion:   Chris Pinkham made a motion to accept the December 21, 2005 meeting minutes  
Second:  Marilyn Lutz seconded the motion
Vote:  8-0 to accept the minutes 

II.	General Manager’s Report

Erin Hutchins gave an overview of the General Manager’s Report that was presented to the Board for review. 
A. 	Marketing Overview
Promotional/Media
a.	Maine Nurses Can Now Renew Their Licenses Online at www.Maine.gov (released nationally 12/22/2005)
b.	Maine State Police Unveil Brand New Website (released 12/06/05)
c.	Cost of Online Driver License Renewals Reduced (released by Secretary of State, 10/03/05)
d.	Maine Joins National Sex Offender Registry (released by DPS 11/22/2005)
e.	Rapid Renewal Releases:
a.	Exeter (11/10/2005)
b.	Sebago (12/13/2005)
c.	Southport (12/16/2005)
f.	2005 InforME Annual Report Completed
B. 	Agency Meetings
•	Office of the Treasurer:  Review Unclaimed Property report
•	Department of Transportation:  
a.	Business Sign renewals
b.	Website Redesign/Conversion
•	Department of Corrections:  Inmate Banking
•	Bureau of Motor Vehicles:  
a.	License Reinstatement Fees
b.	Vanity Plate online order and purchase service
c.	Over Limit Application upgrades
•	Maine State Library:  Database consolidation
•	Maine Revenue Service:  Business Licensing
•	Vital Records (Data Statistics):  Online surveys
•	PFR:  Marketing and promotion of online services
•	Department of Agriculture:  SMART project
•	Bureau of Human Resources:  
a.	Online job application
b.	Website Redesign project
•	Business Licensing Steering Committee
•	DPS:  Liquor Licensing
•	Judicial Branch:  Court Fine payments
•	DHHS-Maine Cancer Registry: 
a.	Website redesign project
b.	Online reporting forms
•	CareerCenter: Website project
•	Historic Preservation Commission: Website redesign project
•	DHHS: Consultation regarding Web Standards
•	Attorney General’s Office: Website Redesign project
•	Domain Registration Workgroup
C. 	Rapid Renewal Meetings
Month and Town	Event	
November		
Vassalboro	Training 	
Boothbay and Exeter	Go Live	
Turner	Beta	
Southport	Beta	
December		
Sebago	Go Live	
Kennebunkport	Informational Visit and Beta	
D. 	Online Service and Website Highlights
Recent launches:  
•	DEP Hazardous & Oil Spill Online Reporting site
•	Any-Deer permit on-line had 57% of the applicants apply on-line, with an increase in total permit applications of almost 15% over 2004
•	2005 Annual Report
•	Maine State Police website – www.maine.gov/dps/msp/
•	Office of the Treasurer website – www.maine.gov/treasurer/ 
E.	Financial Summary
Erin Hutchins reviews the financials for the months of November and December 2005. Erin explains to the Board that the gross and net revenue figures differ between the “Statement of Operations” and “Gross and Net Reporting” sections of the report.  This is because the “Statement” is generated by financials provided by NIC, which do not account for Rapid Renewal Excise Tax collection as revenue, because it is a pass-through to the municipalities.  The “Gross and Net Report” section is generated from the sales report to InforME partner agencies and does include Rapid Renewal Excise Tax collections.  

Discussion:  Christopher Pinkham and Dick Thompson suggested that a footnote with regard to the varying sources for financials be added to the report going forward.

III.	Project Prioritization- PFR Securities Registrations
Discussion:
Erin Hutchins explained that the PFR project would allow users to register, online for the sale of securities and investment products in the state.  PFR has contracted with a third party to provide the back-end development for the securities registration.  As a result of that out-sourcing agreement, PFR asked if InforME would be willing to sign and commit to a project scope statement and deliverables schedule.  Because PFR’s request essentially asked InforME to devote a project manager and developer to this project for a period of time, and would allow for minimal flexibility in the management of resources, the PFR project fell into the high resource, low value category, which requires re-evaluation of the project, under the InforME project prioritization methodology.   Erin did explain, that though the project does not represent significant revenue potential for the state, it is likely to be a public relations win, as we believe it to be a first in the nation service.

Dan Gwadosky asked if we had the resources available to complete this and the business registration project.  Erin explained that we have already dedicated resources to the Business Registration project.  So, this is not likely to create a conflict.  
The Board requested that Erin ask PFR about their willingness to proceed with the project under the traditional InforME project model, allowing for lower resources and more flexibility in scheduling.  Erin agreed to approach PFR about this process.  

Motion:   Matt Dunlap made a motion to table this item of business until Erin Hutchins is able to report next month.  
Second:  Dick Hinkley seconded the motion
Vote:  8-0 to accept 

IV.	Quasi-government Projects- Maine’s Creative Economy
Dick Thompson explains that this topic is in relation to the Governor’s Creative Economy initiative.  The committee responsible for this initiative would like to establish a web presence for the initiative.  One of the issues may be the ownership of the site, which may rest with a private or semi-private organization.   Dick explained that Alan Stearns, from the Office of the Governor, had been invited to the meeting but had a conflict.  
Motion:   Matt Dunlap made a motion to table this item of business until February 2006 meeting  
Second:  Dick Hinkley seconded the motion
Vote:  8-0 to accept
V.	Business Updates- 
A.	Account Handling and Merchant Fees with Treasurer and Controller –
Erin Hutchins revisited the history of this issue for new members of the Board and by way of refresher for existing members.  Erin explained that in most instances, services which use credit cards for payment utilize state agency merchant accounts.  However, there are instances that these are processed using the InforME merchant account.  A request has been made by the Treasurer’s Office that no future services use the InforME account.  This request by the Treasurer’s Office may have an impact on business registration and other enterprise services going forward.
Matt Dunlap, as chair of the Financial Subcommittee has had conversations with the Treasurer and the Financial Subcommittee has met to review this issue.  There is no resolution to the issue at this time.   

B.	Online Business Registration 
Dan Gwadosky reported to the board concerning this item of business.   The online Business Registration is progressing.  Recent accomplishments include the development of a full prototype for the restaurant pilot system and its general acceptance by regulatory agencies.  Further, the group has complied with one of the statutory mandates, making Live Help available on the DECD Business Answers website, during business hours.  The steering committee hopes to have the application complete by the end of February.  
Dan, as a representative of the InforME Board and the Business Licensing Steering Committee has scheduled a meeting with the sponsoring legislators to review the prototype and explain the complexities of the system.  
  
C.	Non-maine.gov domains in State Government
Paul Sandlin reported to the Board that the workgroup tasked with reviewing the issue of domain registration is continuing work toward an informative white-paper, a policy and a procedure related to best practices and management of the state’s domain names.  
VI.	Board Subcommittee Reports
A.	Financial
Chair, Matt Dunlap, explained that the subcommittee met to review a series of items, including use of InforME merchant account for online processes, motivation of agency partners to participate in the InforME initiative, and transparency of transactions and the financial process. 
B.	Technology 
Marilyn Lutz, chair of the committee indicated that there was no update at this time.

C.	RFP 
Dick Hinkley reported that the RFP process represents an opportunity for the InforME model to expand to support changing technologies, partnership and business models.  In the interest of exploration and research of these opportunities, Dick Thompson and Dick Hinkley have discussed extension of the current contract.  An extension must be approved by a number of parties.  To that end, Dick Hinkley is drafting a rationale for the extension, which will be presented to the Board at the February InforME Board meeting.  The February discussion will allow for review of authority for extension and the process for extension.  
VII.	Next Meetings
-	February- The next regular meeting of the Board is scheduled for Tuesday, February 14 2006.  Dick Thompson and Dick Hinkley had the following requests: 

An email be sent to all of the Board members notifying them of the board meeting that was just held and that the next meeting will be held on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday.  

The Agenda be created and sent no later than February 1st.