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IT director reports cloud migration, e-permitting grant work and livestreaming progress
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Summary
Jim Donovan, Millis IT director, reported the town moved away from Azure virtual desktops to local hardware with cloud services, is implementing e-permitting and building connectivity grants, and has launched live-streaming of select board meetings on YouTube.
Jim Donovan, Millis IT director, briefed the Finance Committee on multiple technology efforts including migration away from costly Azure virtual desktops, an e-permitting project funded by a grant, and a YouTube livestream pilot for select board meetings.
Donovan said the town replaced the previous Azure virtual desktop approach with local hardware while retaining cloud-based Microsoft licensing and services, reducing recurring Azure costs by roughly $40,000 per year. He said the police department will not be fully serverless but will reduce on-premises servers and avoid a large near-term capital server purchase.
Donovan described e-permitting and building connectivity grants he is managing and said earlier procurement choices consumed grant time; he recommended having a vendor selected before applying for time-limited grants. He also said the town has been streaming select board meetings to YouTube for several months and keeps recordings available.
Donovan told the committee he will continue pursuing cybersecurity and connectivity grants, and the finance team and departments are consolidating certain IT expenses to improve transparency and account traceability across budgets.
