Village prepares for future disasters

At a meeting on July 14, the Rockville Centre Board of Trustees approved a plan that will help the village preserve its data in the event another storm like Hurricane Sandy were to hit.

The Data Disaster Recovery Plan was approved unanimously by the board. As the plan moves forward, all of the data from the village’s computers will be copied and stored at a remote server site in Hicksville. If a disaster were to strike and Village Hall was inaccessible or destroyed, village workers could access the server to help keep things running in the village.

“We are constantly changing technology,” said John Peters, director of the village IT department. “We are keeping on the cusp of everything to stay up with the latest technology in the most prudent manner.”

The village’s insurance carrier was the one that requested a system be put in place to preserve important data in the event of a disaster. It’s expected that moving the information to the server from the village’s 25 computers will cost about $90,000. The village will also have an annual server cost of $38,000. The village’s IT department will be working with the server company, Lincoln Computer Services, to complete the move.

Work on the disaster recovery plan began more than a year ago when the village purchased new software last January. The New York State Comptroller’s office recommended the storing the servers outside of the village after an audit in 2013. Originally, the plan was to store the servers in the village.

The Hicksville location was chosen because it is secure and easily accessible by village employees.