Cory Lakes CDD

At the last board meeting, Envera presented their potential solutions. Bob and Joyce, if you did not get a copy of the proposal please ask Chuck to send it to you.

There are several options available with the proposal. I know that staff have some opinions about it based on their experience using the current system that they can share with us.

The price tag for the system is not small, so we should make a decision before determining the 2017 budget.

Any opinions from the Supervisors yet?

I know after the last board meeting everyone looked at the large cost and big job that would be entailed to get this project off the ground but I want you to keep a few things in mind.
We recently had the Cross Creek guard shack get hit by lightning. The television, phone modem, security router and systems were all fried.
I was able to get CIO Tech to rush a new router out to try and get the systems back online. It took me being here until after 9 pm to try and get at least some of the systems working and the CIO Tech technician and the tech from Identytech were still on conference call working on issues until after midnight. Now almost two weeks later we are still spending time trying to work out bugs in the system.
This is caused by the fact we have way to many hands in the security pot..
Identytech for the fingerprint scanners, virtual guard, and some cameras.
Sound and vision for some cameras.
The DSX for barcodes.
GateTech for gates
Reddash for Identytech software.
All of these people have a hand in getting one resident through a gate. When the system goes down I have to contact all of these vendors to get their one item up and running.
When I started calling that friday to get people to fix their issues i got this>>>>

Jaime with the DSX…… On Vacation we will look at it next week

Identytech… Not a "How can we help you get up and operational again" , But instead a lecture about how that router was for their system and we didn't get authorization to change it. It took me getting nasty with them and saying I don't care who's system it is, the router is toast, this one is here now, help CIO Tech get it linked up to your network and we will replace it later. They still haven't offered to come replace it, CIO ordered an identical unit and we will put it back to their specs so hopefully everything communicates properly.

Sound and Vision…. We can't get to it until next week… "Um Scott we have no tag cams to guard your gate" " Oh yeah let me look at it tomorrow. When he did come out and replace the power supply and get the cameras working, he just threw the DVR back in the cabinet on top of the other equipment knocking the DSX offline and left it that way.
Keep in mind I had just spent time wire tying the wires and organizing the equipment so it was easier to see what is going on under there.

While going through all of this I noticed that there is no Back UPS running and guarding this equipment, nor has any of these vendors noted or recommended putting them on one to save the interruptions we get so frequently.

Is this really the level of ongoing service we want from the companies we trust to keep our community safe???

If we had the Envera system in place then by their presentation they would have had a guard on staff notice the systems went down and immediately generated a service call.
The system would be completely theirs so it would only entail one technician coming out to replace any bad equipment and get the security systems back online.
One company, one call, one repair.

This is not the first time I have spent the majority of the week and my weekend on the phone with vendors trying to get systems back up and working like they are supposed to.

Just sharing my frustration with the incompetent and unreliable service we now have and how it takes away time from the many other things i could be accomplishing around the community.

I have not been provided the information that was presented, but it sounds to me like we do need one uniformed company performing the service. I have also had experience trying to get companies to work together and it is always an ongoing battle over who is going to do what. Are there other companies out there that similarly perform all of these services that we could obtain comparison quotes from? I will request the information from Chuck today.

In addition to John & I becoming unofficial IT techs having to reset modems/routers to the different security systems in three separate locations (each guard house & beach club) we also have to remember various user id's and passwords to each program. As John mentioned, 2 different programs run the cameras-yet 3 different programs to access and view live or playback. It's very laborious and time consuming when we have to research a specific event to review. We only have one computer and can only open 1 camera program at a time; there isn't a way to open all 3 to be able to see what is going on at any given moment.

Another point to mention is the Identytech accounting; I just received 7 months of invoices (February - August) for the monthly Cloud Based Hosting and Routine Monthly Maintenance of Virtual Guard equipment! When questioned, Thomas apologized and said that in addition to technical support he has been trying to get the accounting caught up.

Clearly, we need to make a switch. I think that our discussion about Envera should be based on how to do it financially versus whether to do. Sid and Jorge, you were at the last presentation. What are your thoughts?

John and Carrie, I feel your frustration and pain. Sounds like dealing with a warranty issue for a construction job. Pointing fingers at other parties or worst the weather.

John, I would appreciate it if you could get me the 1) Dollar amount of the annual contract we pay for Identytech, DSX, Sound & Vision. 2) Also I would like to know if all the contracts have run its course and there are no early termination clause. 3) Do we currently have any back up power supply at either locations i.e. both guard houses and at the Club House 4) If we switch to a new vendor, can all the data be easily
transferable. This is very important.

If the Chairman other supervisors agree and all the responses to my concerns are addressed than I am in favor of inviting Envera during our next CDD meeting. Sudhir.

Im in favor of having them come back, we certainly need to standardize on technology if we want to see improvement. I'll have more comments after i see the revised proposals.