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Session 1312, Minutes Page 5 July 26, 1982 about this matter. Responding to his questions, Mr. McPhail reported that the orig- inal computer equipment was purchased in August, 1980. Mr. 011endorff said that An- dy Arizala was an independent- consultant and that his firm had expertise in munici- pal finance data processing. Mr. Arizala reviewed the recommendations the City re- ceived from others and also oversaw the softwear that was being done for the City by contract. Mr. Levy said he found it difficult to understand that the City should be confined to the limitations of the present DX10 system and that a completely new system had to be purchased at substantial cost after such a short time. He asked if any vendor other than TI had been called in to see if the present system could be adapted with more expansion capabilities. Ms Stepanek said no other vendor had been called in and she did not think that satisfaction would be obtained from another vendor for anything less than a much larger price. She said the softwear investment which the City had was not limited to that of the operating system which was re- ferred to in the report but also to the applications which have been developed. The number of applications was larger and more comprehensive than was envisioned in 1980, when the system was purchased. Mr. Levy said that was irrelevant to the limitations found in the system. He asked if consideration had been given to adopting an en- tirely new system, since the City had already outgrown one less than two years old. Ms Stepanek said a new system from TI, called N S, had been considered, and al- though the system looked very promising in that it would do away with many of the operating restrictions contained in the DXiO, it had only recently been tested, and she felt the system was too new to adopt and would not recommend it. Mr. Levy asked why the City must be limited to systems from TI. Ms. Stepanek said that once an or- ganization had committed itself to applications softwear, it was very difficult to move that softwear from one system to another. She said another problem was that finance applications were developed using a data base management system, which was not easily transferable, and that it was not just a question of finding a computer which will run the programs. Ms Stepanek said she was not involved in the original recommendation that the City use the present system, and that she had joined REJIS after the process was under way. Mr. Ollendorff said the Cizy originally got: i moo the system through receiving a fed- eral grant three years ago to buy a mini-computer for use by the Police Department. Applications were added, which were found to be very useful, and the system was ex- panded quite a lot; however, it cannot be expanded further. Mr. Levy felt a seri- ous error in judgment was made at the time of purchase and that there was something wrong when a system lasted less than two years. Ms Stepanek reminded him that the original system was planned to be used only by the Police Department, and that the applications installed and currently in development considerably exceeded the orig- inal planned usage of the computer. There was extended discussion concerning the computer system and she possible alternatives which might be available instead of purchasing another system like the present one. Mr. Levy pointed out that the new system would have essentially the same limitations as the old, and might also have to be upgraded within a short time. He thought other vendors should have been con- sulted; however, Ms Stepanek said going to a different vendor would lose the backup capabilities of a new system like the old system. The old system could not be used as backup without changing the applications code to have two separate versions, and each change made on one system would have to be made on the other, if they are to back each other up. Mr. Levy said he felt very uncomfortable with the recommendation, and asked that the Council delay the decision for a week or two in order to research the matter