Last week the Lloyd Town Board announced that this year the town will be making significant upgrades to their internet and information technology infrastructure.

Supervisor Dave Plavchak has been discussing the town’s technology needs with Michael Molinelli, of Elevated Computing, for the past month, “really trying to sort out what’s best for the town, IT wise.”

Molinelli said his company has been providing IT support to the Town of Lloyd for some time and they have continued to increase the cyber security posture of the town while being mindful of the IT budget.

Molinelli said the town’s mail system has already been moved to the cloud, while being compliant with all regulations. He said this not only prevents losing communication in a storm but allows his company to make adjustments and improvements when needed.

Molinelli highlighted some of his company’s plans for this year: providing cyber security training to the town’s employees, wi-fi upgrades to the town hall and the water department, refreshing workstation hardware while segregating town hall and the courts internet via separate circuits.

Molinelli said his company will be working with Crown Castle on providing the internet.

“Crown Castle can provide us with a redundant robust connection with a service level agreement and with that we will get 10 times the speed and we can do all of this without increasing the overall spending that we’re doing right now,” he said, adding that this also will allow updates and adjustments to be made to the phone system. He noted that Crown Castle, however, will want a five year commitment from the town.

Molinelli said the changes and significant upgrades he is suggesting would cost less than what the town is currently paying for their internet and telcom costs; dropping from $2,085 to $1,950 per month for an annual cost of $23,400.

Plavchak explained that the town is currently being charged for local and long distance calling, while also having an unreliable internet from Optimum/Altice. He likes the cloud system, noting, “that this brings us closer to the 21st century where we need to be and I am excited to get this going.”

Plavchak said once the contract with Crown Castle is approved, “I know the fiber optic buildout will take the company from 90 to 120 days to complete. So we’re really talking mid to late summer before we get that.” Molinelli said that Crown Castle will be paying for the buildout, which costs about $50,000.

“It should help the employees in town hall and upgrades to the bandwidth will let us provide better service,” Molinelli said.

It was noted that all town employees will have the internet hooked up to their phones.

Molinelli said because his company is located in Fishkill, they are able to come to Lloyd quickly to fix and service emergency issues that may arise. The company boasts that they conduct proactive monitoring and have U. S. based support 24/7/365 days a year. He said they can provide 100% fiber-optic upgraded internet from 100Mbs to 500Mbs, adding that people living near town hall will not be able to access the town’s internet.

The Town Board will soon receive a contract from Crown Castle for their review and approval.