GUELPH/ERAMOSA – The township will see public access wi-fi installed and available throughout most of Rockmosa Park by the end of the year.
Council here has authorized staff to proceed with the installation at a total cost of $20,840 – including a cost overrun of $7,840 for IT upgrades.
In an Oct. 18 meeting, council heard from director of parks and recreation Robin Milne that $13,000 was approved for the capital item in the 2021 parks and recreation budget.
The wi-fi will be available to park users, market vendors, sports teams and during special events.
There will be filters that restrict content and time limitations to deter after-hours activity in the park. Highspeed internet service has already been installed in the Rockmosa Community Centre at a cost of $9,000.
Council heard from director of parks and recreation Robin Milne on the installation of public access wi-fi throughout most of Rockmosa Park. Screen shot from Oct. 18 meeting
Milne noted the next phase of the project is to work with the township’s IT consultant to build the system to make the internet connection publicly available with the proper safeguards in place to protect the municipal network.
Originally $4000 was budgeted for this phase, but after further investigation, it’s being recommended that, in addition to adding access points, the township do a complete upgrade of the existing IT system on site to further protect the network.
Staff proposed an additional $7,840 to be transferred from the modernization fund to ensure the project be completed in 2021.
Milne noted this would take the total project cost from the $13,000 initially proposed to $20,840, which would be 100 per cent funded through the modernization fund.
“With all the cyber security threats and all those various things it’s important that we provide a service to the public in that park but we have to take every single precaution to ensure that our network is secure,” Mayor Chris White said.
Council received the report and authorized staff to proceed with the installation.
