Stanley stops short of software piracy accusation
, Richmond News Staff
11-23-2009
Richmond councilwoman Terrie Stanley wanted some after-the-fact answers to a Richmond police mapping software question.
When the answers Police Chief Terri McWilliams and City Administrator Rick Childers didn’t satisfy her, things grew tense.
Stanley confronted McWilliams at Thursday evening’s Finance Committee session regarding a September Ray County 911 Board request that McWilliams remove outdated 911 mapping software licensed to Ray County from the police dispatch system.
Then-Ray County 911 Director E.B. Chester had provided Richmond police with the software prior to 2005. Up until then, Chester has supplied the police department with regular mapping updates free of charge. Since 2005, the $50,000 software copied to the police computers was inadvertently left with Richmond police computers, according Ray County 911 Director Scott Enss in August.
Richmond Fire Chief Lonnie Quick said Chester provided the updates “out of the goodness of his heart.”
In four years since, Enss said in September, the county hasn’t updated the software on the Richmond Police Department computer in reflect geographic changes, road changes and other updated information. Enss said at that time Richmond’s continued use created “liability” issues, since Ray County holds the software’s license.
Essentially, if out-of-date software led to an untimely emergency response call, a tragic outcome could be legally on the Ray County 911 Board’s hands, as well as the Richmond Police Department’s.
In late August, the Ray County 911 Board’s monthly meeting including support for sending a letter to Richmond officials requesting the software’s immediate removal – a letter the The Daily News inadvertently delivered to McWilliams before the board could deliver it.
McWilliams told Stanley Thursday evening the letter, dated Sept. 1 when received by the city, merited immediate action.
“Richmond had mapping software before we ever combined with (Ray County) 911,” McWilliams said. “As soon as I got a copy of that letter, it was removed from computers.”
Stanley accused McWilliams of answering her questions regarding the software’s continued use in three different ways on three different occasions. On Aug. 11, Stanley asked about the software during a Public Safety Committee session and said McWilliams answered that she “had no idea what (Stanley) was talking about.”
She asked again Sept. 18. Stanley said McWilliams answered the software “wasn’t theirs.”
She asked once more Oct. 27. She said McWilliams responded that the department “wasn’t using (the software) any longer.” McWilliams elaborated Thursday that since the software’s apparent removal, the department has utilized Google maps and a paper map tacked to a wall.
“Three different answers, three different times,” Stanley said. She then called on Childers with the consequences, and scolded Childers for a third incident since July in which Childers appeared to have held information back from the council.
“They asked you to stop using it, erase it, delete it and you had been using it for quite a few years,” Stanley said. “My question here is: You are a law enforcement agency, correct? You have to follow law, correct? There is such a thing as pirating software.”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” McWilliams interjected.
“No you’re not. You’re not going to stop me,” Stanley said.
Stanley reminded Childers if city officials knew of the problem and failed to report it properly, it became a legal liability to the city. McWilliams and Stanley briefly argued back and forth over whether the software’s start-up screen explicitly informs the user of Ray County’s existing license.
“If you had come into our dispatch center at any time in your career so far as a city council person, we could’ve pulled it up and you would not have seen it on the screen,” said Richmond Police Department Communications Director Tim Ray. “You may have seen what they have now, but the software that we had on our machines did not have ‘Property of Ray County 911,’ ‘Property of Ray County’ anywhere in the text on the screen.”
Childers was a man of few words in the face of Stanley’s questioning. He didn’t raise his voice when Stanley raised hers, nor did he show any rising frustration with the questioning.
“See this letter, Mr. Childers? How come the council wasn’t notified of this?” Stanley asked.
“I don’t know,” Childers said.
“You don’t know? It was a certified letter,” Stanley said, showing increasing frustration.
“I don’t receive certified letters,” Childers answered.
“So you just don’t know?” Stanley asked.
“Correct, I just don’t know,” he answered again.
In early July, after council members told Childers they were left in the dark when constituents addressed them with questions the day of a major water main break, Childers promised the council that “If a situation warrants notifying him, the entire council would be notified.”
In October, letters reached citizens indicating Childers and Public Works Director C.E. Goodall had been made aware of a positive Total Coliform bacteria test on a Richmond home’s water fixture. Council once more told Childers they weren’t aware of the letter or the test until they received it the same day as other citizens – nearly a week after it was dated.
Childers said at that time he “felt the letter was pretty self explanatory.”
“When the information was made available to the police department, they removed the software,” Childers said. He called McWilliams’ answers “progressively informative.”
McWilliams told Stanley at one point, “I’m not going to be accused of a felony.” McWilliams explained she gave Stanley progressively informative answers, as the information became apparent to her.
Stanley said she has informed the Missouri Attorney General’s office of the situation, indicating she wanted to relieve the council of responsibility. She agreed, along with Childers, to pass the situation along to City Attorney Chris Williams for review.
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