September 30th, 1999

To Whom It May Concern:

During my tenure as Asistant to the City Manager and Director of Communications for the City of Arcata in 1998-1999, I had the great pleasure of directly supervising the work of Dave Weidling, the City's Data Network Administrator. During that period Dave was solely responsible for the following projects and areas of responsibility:

• Purchase, installation, configuration of router, ISDN line, firewall computer and software
• Purchase, installation, configuration of wireless ethernet system to three outlying city sites
• Expansion of the City Hall ethernet network which he had started building prior to my tenure, to include network printing and use of voice-over-IP with the police voice mail system.
• Construction of an internal mail computer running MS Exchange Server and training of personnel in its use
• Installation and testing of a networked version of ArcInfo 7.2 for the GIS division
• Digital photography, image processing, graphic design of the city web site
• Management of two NT servers
• City government wide troubleshooting of PC problems

Dave simultaneously performed the duties of Instrumentation and Controls Technician for the City's Environmental Services department which entailed design-construction projects for and troubleshooting of a wide area data network which supports the functioning of the City's water supply and wastewater treatment systems.

In all of these capacities I found Dave to be thoroughly competent and often creative in his approach and solutions beyond what the phrase "thoroughly competent" may convey. Dave has provided this organization with a data infrastructure which could well serve as a model for small cities (our population is approximately 16,000) throughout the country, and done so efficiently, with limited resources, and in such a way as to allow growth and expansion through the next several years.

In addition to his estimable technical capabilities, Dave has earned the respect and admiration of all those employees with whom he works. He is a genuine "people" person, an attribute not always found in those whose primary expertise lies in complex technical fields.

I would love to be able to work with Dave in any capacity, and would do so with complete confidence in his skills, his integrity, and his loyalty to those with whom he works. I would be honored to provide any additional information you might wish with regard to Dave's qualifications. If you are considering him for any position in which he is interested, I would encourage you to hire him right now, before someone else gets him first.

Sincerely,

John S. Smith

Assistant to the City Manager