WESTFIELD – The heart of technology for the City of Westfield, according to Information Technology manager Lenore J. Bernashe, is the Center of Information Technology on Apremont Way. Located in a secure building behind a locked gate next to Barnes Airport, the Tech Center’s networking hardware links systems throughout the city via fiber optic, point to point microwave and other networking technologies.
Westfield Information Technology manager Lenore J. Bernashe in the server room at the Center of Information Technology on Apremont Way. (Photo by Amy Porter)
“Everything comes in through here,” Bernashe said, standing next to racks housing the servers that service all the computers and telephones for the city and school district. The server room is climate controlled, with rubberized floors, fire suppression, building-based generators and battery backup. Bernashe said the batteries have only been utilized for a total time of approximately an hour over the past nine years. During the blizzard of 2011, the generators ran the Technology Center for 3 hours.
Bernashe has been managing the operations almost as long as the Tech Center has been open at the Apremont Way location. The city moved its technology services, then under the auspices of the school district, in October of 2007. Bernashe was appointed acting director in November of 2008. The Center transitioned from a school to city department in January of 2011, and she was formerly appointed its director in July of 2011. The move represented a big expansion for the city, Bernashe said. The Center now employs 13 staff members, up from 7 or 8 when they first moved in, and is in the final stages of hiring a database administrator.
WTA Senior Amanda Lynch is doing her Business Tech internship at the Tech Center. (Photo by Amy Porter)
The Tech Center currently also has an intern, Amanda Lynch, a senior studying Business Tech at Westfield Technical Academy, working a coop there. During a visit on Friday, Lynch was unpacking a shipment of Chrome books that just arrived for the school district.
“I like it a lot. There’s a big variety,” said Lynch of her work at the center.
Also located in the Tech Center is Jim Wiggs, director of Emergency Management. Next door is Emergency Dispatch, which handles all the 911 calls for the city. Although the center is not open to the public, city departments utilize the conference room, taking advantage of the technology available for meetings.
Prior to working for IT, Bernashe was the network advisor for the Westfield Police Department, where she moved them from paper-based dispatch to computer-based dispatch. All together, she has worked for the City of Westfield for twenty years.
A native of Chicopee, Bernashe double majored in mathematics and economics at Colgate University. She received her master’s in business administration from American International College. Most of her technology training came on the job while working for Aetna Insurance. She said she started in field sites, learning how every site worked, before she was brought back to the home office in Hartford to manage a portion of the national network of field offices.
Recently, Westfield announced an expansion of its cable television services. Westfield now has two channels, Cable Channels 15 and 12 that offer live programming and community bulletin boards and announcements. There is also a new website, westfieldtv.org, that offers live streaming of meetings and other events broadcast on Channel 15, including Thursday night’s City Council meetings and the Community Radio shows broadcast out of The Press Room cafe on School Street or the WSKB radio studios on the campus of Westfield State University.
The Center for Information Technology on Apremont Way, shortly before offices were moved there in late 2007. (Submitted photo)
“The other good improvement we’ve made is emergency broadcast capability on Channels 12 & 15 and live streaming as well. It comes across as a ticker, similar to local news channels. The streaming channel is also available on mobile devices through westfieldtv.org,” Bernashe said.
The Comcast feeds for the two stations were transferred to the Tech Center last May, and are distributed out from there. Westfield State University is the primary producer of the programming, and manages the actual coverage of meetings such as the City Council and School Committee out of the media room next door in City Hall. The camera operation is mostly run by students under the tutelage of Mark St. Jean, coordinator of Video Production & Television Operations for the university.
The university also produces community programs such as the Kiwanis Auction and “As Schools Match Wits,” along with college programming at their studio on campus. Bernashe said some of the management of the broadcasting operations for the city may shift, although she doesn’t know to what extent.
“There’s always a need, and it’s always a benefit to have the college involved,” she said.
Information Technology manager Lenore J. Bernashe in her office on Apremont Way. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Bernashe said the division of time the Tech Center spends on the needs of the city and school district is always changing. At the start of school in September, she said 90% of their time is spent on getting the school district up and running. Other days, it’s a 50/50 split. Sometimes, projects in the city require more attention as well.
About the technology needs in the school district, Bernashe said there’s always a need for newer technology. “In order to utilize it, there also has to be infrastructure improvements and professional development,” she said. The Tech Center will be involved in any technology upgrades, but the P.D. is the district’s responsibility, she said.
City departments are also responsible for updating their own pages on the city’s website at www.cityofwestfield.org, while the Tech Center maintains the master page. The city is currently in the process of upgrading its city website, now in the final design stages, which should be ready by the end of the month or early February, Bernashe said.
The Tech Center also handles all the public safety radios, and is working on a city-wide radio project.
“We’re revamping the services we’re offering, which are very cyclical. Technology changes every six months if not sooner. We’re always changing to meet the needs that are out there,” Bernashe said.
Bernashe said the Tech Center is in a good position to expand along with any needed changes.
“This building is the envy of a lot of our counterparts in other towns. They all say they want to come to Westfield,” she said.
