Town manager outlines IT migration off Gmail; council approves tablet and hybrid-meeting AV device

Town manager Erin Nelson told Bluff Town Council on Dec. 3 that the town will migrate its email and document sharing away from unsecured Gmail accounts and onto a Microsoft/SharePoint-based system managed by the new IT vendor. Nelson said the migration would require collecting town-issued laptops for on-site setup and that staff and planning-and-zoning participants will need training on the Microsoft environment and SharePoint.

Nelson said State-hosted Gmail accounts monitored by the state are an option but estimated they cost about $13 per user per month; she recommended the Microsoft option as more cost-effective when combined with the town—s IT quotes. She also recommended using Zoom rather than Microsoft Teams for public meetings because of public-entry issues with Teams and because Zoom is more familiar to many users; she said Zoom licensing and configuration costs will be evaluated with the IT provider.

As part of the transition, council unanimously approved a motion to purchase an iPad-style tablet for notetaking and a Meeting Owl audiovisual device (an all-in-one conference camera/microphone solution) quoted at just under $900 on sale. Staff said the tablet is a one-time purchase with a modest monthly monitoring fee, and the Owl will improve audio/video quality for hybrid meetings.

Nelson emphasized training and phased rollout, saying the town—s .org address will be maintained and redirected to the new .gov addresses during migration to avoid missed correspondence. The council asked staff to coordinate with Polaris and other vendors to ensure continuity of critical systems during migration.