During the November 20, 2012 commissioners meeting held in Coos Bay, a late agenda item relating to the purchase of a $103K storage area network was brought before the board for discussion. According to radio personality and occasional commissioner, Cam Parry, the county’s network could collapse at any moment losing critical data unless the Presidio SAN hardware and software package is purchased and installed immediately. Lame duck commissioner Fred Messerle agreed timing is critical to avert imminent disaster and “we need to move right away”.
On Thursday, December 13 the commissioners have scheduled a work session to once again discuss the purchase. Presidio provides storage solutions and partners with several companies including Citrix, a former employer of one of the structure advisory committee members.
If the system is indeed this shaky it is a wonder this hasn’t been dealt with previously rather than rushing into a major purchase in a crisis. Temporarily the current board could opt to use a cloud service while the new board takes its time to thoroughly review the options before spending $100K+.
You are a HOOT, Themguys! I love your jovial comments and witty contributions. They’re a hoot. And again – I hope you have a MERRY Christmas and HAPPY New Year.
Sorry – “surely you JEST!”
Themguys – it wasn’t $10k. It was HALF A MILLION! Seriously. It was the rip-off the century. And really – me smarter than you?? Surely you just!
Oh – and Merry Christmas you little curmudgeons! 🙂
Yea little al, you’re a real hoot, it’s real funny to take money from other people for no good reason except you could. And you’re real proud of that aren’t ya? Outsmarted them dumb ass working stiffs didn’t ya?
Oh, and I don’t believe in magical, invisible friends and virgin births, so keep your fairy tales to your own self. Never been a deep thinker have you?
You have no idea. When you start adding up the kick-backs from the County, the Commissioners, the IT department, the Jail kitchen staff, Presidio, Microsoft, Google, VMWare, Rogue River Wind, Dairy Queen and Wendy’s (I thought I’d beat Themguys to the punch and throw those last three in before she did), the money becomes HUGE. You should investigate further, Mary. This could be the story of the year on MGX. Wait – best to leave RRW out of the story. But thanks for the check!
Al, you doth protest too much
” But thanks for the check! ” little al.
Welfare Queen. $10,000 of Other People’s Money. And smug as hell about it too. Thinks he’s smarter than those of us who did honest work in our lifetimes, and didn’t expect others to pay our personal bills. If he was a tad smarter he’d be embarrassed, but he’s not. He’s smug as hell, thinkin it’s good business to have others pay his bills. Sad.
I was told that Commissioner Main stated on the Bice show yesterday that he could fix this issue with about $5k, so problem solved.
The real question is will Al receive a commission or finders fee from the contractor after Fred and Cam approve this purchase on Thursday morning?
Wouldn’t that be unethical considering Al serves on a County Committee?
“Unethical for thee, not for me” little al.
Technically, the committee was has been officially disbanded… and no one would ever imagine Al to be “unethical”, now would they?
Rickey – technology moves pretty fast, so I doubt this fix will be viable in fifty years. But again – if you suspect that someone in the IT department isn’t making the right decision then you should weigh in with them.
Al you doubt that this is a bandage fix .then will this fix the whole computer system for a long time to come ? Al the government agencies from all over do band aides fixes all the time take a look at the roads the grind it smooth then add a new layer of asphalt never addressing the real issues where the root of the problem is and that is the base . So Al does this fix the computer system so it will function property with no more fixes or is this a temporary patch to address only one possible problem
Rickey – I doubt this is a band-aid fix because the IT team has been working with Presidio for nearly a year now. Nonetheless, I suggest you direct your questions to the IT department.
I see Al tryed to answer my question but left out the answers to the questions asked so Al please answer the questions with detail thanks rickey
It looks like Al is admitting that he was involved in this deal.
That anyone associated with the ratPAC(K) is promoting this purchase ought to be a red flag to everyone. The term “grifters” comes to mind
Stufflebutt put over half a million dollars into a computer upgrade while in office. Where is that money, and why is it so outdated already. I couldn’t find the info, anyone out there remember all this money thrown into the county just a few years ago? Is that under IT as well?
Presidio is very respected in the industry. They – and Sandy – know what needs to be done to get the County’s data secured.
My question is this just a bandage fix ? has a complete analysis of the system been done? Was there bids let out to bid on this ? And last why the last minute rush? If this is a bandage fix then maybe we need to look at what it would take to fix it right . It may cost more upfront but could be cheaper in the long run
Considering the state of the IT department which has been financially ignored for years – much like Solid Waste – the County is fortunate they haven’t had a catastrophic breakdown somewhere in the network. A dozen daisy-chained car batteries serving as an APC back-up is something you’d expect to see on “Redneck Island”, not in the County’s data center. And $103k is a drop in the bucket considering the insignificant level of investment this department has endured the past several years. They have a lot of catching up to do.
Do they have Harleys on red neck island?
I am sure Al is an expert in many things, or at least something…. however, I have good reason to believe that the technical intricacies and nuts and bolts implementation of the typical IT department is not one of them.
Al, since your here being so damn honest about your involvement with the county’s IT woes, why don’t you tell us about your connections with the firm getting this contract. Which one of you geniuses opened the door for a buddy, or did this firm just get lucky and have their product and services sought out by SCDC on a cold call. This last minute rush to complete this deal on Messerle and Cam’s tour of duty really smells of corruption and graft. You guys already had this deal in progress, it was just one of the deals your group was needing to get done before Fred and Cam lost their seats. Your new seat holders must not have been able to absorb the heat from this promise being fulfilled. These newbies must have their marching orders by now, like privatizing the rest of the road dept. work over to Knife river. Kevin didn’t quite get it done and your current team just ran out of time. So I will look for that deal to be completed by the new team in the next two years. I was surprised at how easy you guys got the Waste Connections deal done, by just saying over and over that its broken out there and you had to shut it down before anyone got hurt, (or got wise). That tactic worked better than I expected it would. I also expect your newbies to try and carry the torch that Cam was involved in with the tribe, you know the one that hands the county timber resources over to the tribe. That deal must be worth millions to you guys.
Sadly, I have to agree with The Reminder this morning. These guys been running this county dry for decades. It’s not The Walrus and little al, it’s Dale Sause and John Knutson who are the ones, through the Port, the Airport, SCDC, Chamber of Consorts, rusted railroad, the mills and control of the North Spit.etc. etc. etc. I have been wondering why it’s so important for Bennetti and the Walrus to be on the Airport Board, seems an unlikely waste of time for such astute businessmen. Until you realize the incestuous relationship between these “Dons” who pull the strings. al and the walrus are just the puppets, the puppeteers are Sause and Knutson. Those are the connections to Salem. Hell, these two just put a forty year competetor completely out of business. They did it right in front of the authorities in Salem, and nary a whisper from Roblan and Verger, as if paying $5,000 to an out of county politician from out of county to carry it for them. If WE know, then the Justice Dept. and everyone else knows what these guys did. Hear or see any accountability put on them? Any of them? Didn’t this used to be illegal activity? Is it? I am afraid folks, if Justice can read a paper, they know about this, and they ain’t gonna do one damn thing. Sause and Knutson bred their own spawn to become lawyers, yup, bring em up the way you want them to be Daddy. Teach them well.
Bennetti and Barton’s goal to get themselves on the Airport board was a strategic move by SCDC to make sure no complaints were made to the FAA during the permitting process to get Their LNG plant going. Any competent Airport board member would have lodged complaints or at least brought up the question about public safety, having that bomb right across the bay from the area’s only viable Airport. It would not have been unreasonable to foresee a scenario that could have a plane accidentally or purposely slamming into those tanks and causing a level of devastation beyond anything ever seen in Oregon. That’s why SCDC and theworld paper helped those two get those seats. They could not afford to have that type of problem officially lodged to the FAA by an errant Airport board member, so they had to get control of the Airport to make sure that could NEVER happen. Have you ever heard of that question being asked by anyone representing the Airport. Of course not, they were successful with that part of the plan to bring LNG to town, and all those working on profiting from LNG are thankful for their contributions.
This is pay back time for Pettit. The commissioners work for us. The IT Department manager works for us. We have the power to fire either.
Bob Main – you are the peoples voice on that board at this time. Please invite the IT manager to come before the board and answer peoples questions why this Presidio hardware is required immediately. He can live or die with his answers. And, if he disagrees, he better have the courage to say so.
I just re-read this link http://mgx.com/blogs/2011/10/09/main-misrepresents-me-and-misunderstands-county-cash-flow/ and in the last paragraph one part of what you were saying about Cam gave me pause. This part ( he has demonstrated no critical thinking skills), He may not have any, but whoever is directing this car crash scene has moved his pawns with clarity of purpose if nothing else. That person does have those skills with a twist of greed disease and they have the up-state connections to get away with these privatization moves we are seeing happening to this county. This county is moving full steam ahead towards government for profit for the few. They just won the county with this election, unless Bob Main gets the two new ones to turn on their masters, but then I’ve always believed Bob was in on the whole scheme from the beginning. I would love to be proved wrong in two years, that would mean that the citizens of this county are winning.
I am more optimistic about the county electorate since the election and now that the PAC(K) is being revealed for the underhanded and dirty dealers it represents I am hopeful the people will take a decisive stand. We will know in short order whether the two newbies strings are being pulled and by whom. Luckily that stuff becomes clear and evident in short order.
A little understanding how the Charter would have prevented the wholesale spending.
One more promise fulfilled. Whats the old saying,”better late than never”. SCDC took money to close the dump, paid for and delivered on their watch. This one could been seen coming when the special committees stacked with SCDC members, saw disaster if we don’t upgrade the county’s IP systems, one more promise paid for and delivered. It had to be done now because it was already paid to be done by someone, perhaps a friend of one or both of these out-going commissioners. This reminds me of one more old saying,”follow the money”.
They don’t care how it looks, they’ve gotten used to doing this sort of thing because they can and there’s no one to stop them from doing it.