TO: INFORMATION RESOURCE OF MAINE (InforME) BOARD

FROM: CARRIE GOTT, INFORME STAFF

DATE: July 20, 2000

RE: MINUTES OF THE JULY 20, 2000 INFORME BOARD MEETING

ATTENDANCE:

Secretary of State Dan A. Gwadosky, Chair of the Board

Deborah B. Carson, Financial Operations Officer, Judicial Branch

Richard Davies, Public Member

Rudolph Naples, Representing Executive Branch

Richard Record, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

Tamara Dukes, President, New England Interactive (NEI)

Jaynie Higgins, Public Member

Marilyn Lutz, Maine Library Association

Linda Monica, Maine Trial Lawyers Association

Anne Schink, Maine League of Women Voters

Leslie Sprague, User Association

STAFF:

Carrie Gott, Staff to InforME Board

John Rusinak, Staff to InforME Board

Rebecca Wyke, Chief Deputy, Office of Secretary of State

STAFFING

Have interviewed one candidate for a development position. Will keep the search open.

EVENTS

Electronic Payment Seminar:

InforME hosted an Electronic Payment Seminar at the InforME office, which was attended by several Maine State Government officials (Secretary Gwadosky, Treasurer McCormick, Controller Whitney, and others) as well as other NIC state networks. Three vendors presented their alternative payment solutions. It proved to be a very productive and educational seminar for all involved.

Webmaster retreat:

The July date was canceled due to weather. The rain date is scheduled for August 22^nd, between 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The retreat will take place at Wolf’s Neck Woods State Park, and will feature keynote speaker Rich Donaldson from L.L.Bean, speaking on e-commerce.

NIC task forces:

NIC has pulled NIC staff together to form task forces by which expertise and best practices can be gathered. Some of the task force subjects include e-Payments, Top Tier applications, and Local Government.

REVENUE

Revenue has been strong this month despite the Drivers Privacy Protection Act limiting subscriber base. This will need to be watched carefully in the next few months.

WEB DESIGN PROJECTS

There are many new projects in the works.

PROJECTS:

Credit Card Software:

The credit card back-end has been completed and will be implemented into the Office of Licensing and Registration electronic renewal form. IF&W will also be automated with the credit card payment software.

The BMV fax-back:

The fax-back box is now at InforME and running. The annual maintenance costs are higher than expected, but should still be fine with balancing the budget.

Internet Provider:

The research for an alternative Internet Provider has resulted in identifying two potential prospects. However, Sprint, the current ISP, seems to have resolved the connectivity issues, therefore InforME will continue to work with Sprint for the time being.

Webmaster Galley:

The Webmaster Galley has been completed and delivered to the Web.

Potential future SLAs:

The Department of Conservation has expressed interest in improving the online campground reservation service. Currently users submit a form, which is reviewed and answered manually. Improved service would automate the availability check, reservation process and credit card payment. This project would probably begin next spring.

Rapid Renewal:

Attached documents include the Rapid Renewal SLA, including both agency and municipalities. Approximately 11% of Maine vehicles are registered within the pilot’s geographical range. The citizen participation potential is huge for the State. This will be one of the largest citizens services InforME develops, and one that truly sets Maine apart from the rest of the Nation.

SLA description: Similar to other SLA’s with an exception on page 2, where the re-negotiating clause has been removed. Also see on page 5, letter G, instead of asking to be the primary provider of all egovernment services, we narrowed the preferred provider provision to only include vehicle registration and excise tax services to the public.

Each pilot town was able to review SLA and commit to the project and the guidelines of the project. The municipalities are absorbing the credit card merchant fees for the excise tax portion of the registration. There are a total of 10 municipalities participating in the pilot, which are Bangor, Brunswick, China, Corinna, Hermon, Holden, Lewiston, Portland, Saco, and Waterville.

Rollout is planned for the second half of August. The service will not be publicized until it is up and running. InforME and Secretary of State’s Office are discussing plans for a large media splash once the service is in place.

Q: How long does it take to renew currently in person?

A: Depends on the town, where the branch is located, what the hours are, etc. Some towns have strong systems, while others do not.

The agent fee is in statute. A third party agent may charge a fee for processing the registration remotely. The fee is not set by statute, but the SOS can set fee by rule, but this has not been done because this e-service will cost less than is currently collected ($2 as opposed to the $3-5 agent fee collected by towns).

Q: Once a customer completes the renewal registration, how does the town know?

A: There will be a password protected administrative web site through which InforME receives data uploads, and registration transaction updates are sent to the BMV and municipalities. Once the transaction is settled with the bank, it is then sent to the municipality, and the BMV mails the decals to the customer. There will be a confirmation screen that can be used by state police to verify registration renewal. The state police are very supportive of this process.

Q: Have there been past efforts to make this service available?

A: Portland tried to develop a phone dial up, but it didn’t pass through Legislation. So, they started a mailing. Other towns have begun exploring this, but haven’t found any other solutions.

Q: Where will the Rapid Renewal link be located?

A: The link will be posted in both State and municipal web sites.

This is very exciting historic benchmark for InforME and for Maine.

Dick Davies motions to adopt the SLA, schedule A. The motion is seconded and passes with unanimous vote.

Judicial Branch: does not require Board approval.

The Violations SLA does not require Board approval.

Schedule A, describes what the project is, without specifying fees as these have yet to be determined.

The service essentially allows citizens to pay traffic violations online, adding tremendous convenience. Currently, if a citizen does not send the violation payment to the Lewiston Office in the specified time, then he/she is forced to drive to Lewiston and visit the office in person between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

The electronic service would service approximately 120,000 violations, and these numbers grow about 20% per year. We project that 20% of the 120,000 would use the Internet/phone payment method. This will not generate remarkable revenue for InforME, but it is a great citizen service. An estimated $3.00 per transaction premium service fee could be added.

This is very exciting for InforME, and represents yet another branch of government embracing e-government. The Judicial Branch has been very open and enthusiastic to InforME. The rollout date is estimated to be the end of October.

InforME and the Office of the Secretary of State have been named in a lawsuit. Before InforME, the BMV was providing driver record tapes at very minimal cost. This fee did not cover the costs of generating and mailing the tapes. Therefore, the pricing has been increased to $.03 per name for a full database copy and $.10 per name for a customized selection of the database. Locate Plus.com Inc., the plaintiff, provides CDs of data to private investigators. Compared with other states, Maine is very fairly priced. It is hoped that this will be resolved through mediation, without going to court.

• No meeting in August
• September 27^th, 1:00 p.m.