qathet Regional District (qRD) directors have approved new policies governing the use of computers and mobile communications devices.
At the December 6 regional board meeting, Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said at a previous committee of the whole he had some concerns about the policies. He said a primary concern among board members was enabling board members to receive information on their cell phones, so calendars can be updated as to what is going on.
“It helps board members not miss meetings,” said Gisborne. “One of the things that also came up at the committee level was that I use a desktop computer for a lot of the work I do. A fraction of the work I do is regional district related. When I checked the policy, I wouldn’t be able to use that desktop computer under this new policy.
“My understanding is I can use my personal device if it’s a mobile device, but if it’s a desktop device, I can’t. Is that understanding correct?”
Manager of technical services Nancy Schmeister said the point was that regional directors cannot download any confidential, private, non-public information onto any personal device.
“It’s not to say you can’t use your personal device to read your email through Outlook on the web, which is an option for you,” said Schmeister. “You can open your email as long as you are not opening some kind of a link that will download something that will then be retained on your personal desktop computer.”
Gisborne asked if he was able to access in camera information on his phone.
Schmeister said he could not.
“It’s not to say that every single item that you open up is going to end up downloading some file or document onto your phone,” said Schmeister. “To be safe, we are saying, you are not using a personal device to open in camera or non-public information as is in the policy.”
Schmeister said if it is a personal device of any kind, it should not contain qRD non-public information.
The two policies carried, with Gisborne and Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick opposed.
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