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County ITS urges predictable funding for device‑as‑a‑service, firewalls and high‑availability internet
Summary
ITS staff told the board that technology now requires multi‑year lifecycle funding rather than one‑time purchases; they urged continuing a device‑as‑a‑service lease, firewall modernization and higher‑availability internet to avoid security and downtime risks.
Yavapai County ITS presented a lifecycle approach to capital technology spending and warned the board that delaying planned upgrades increases security, reliability and operational risk.
Jared Phelan, assistant director for ITS (interim director), said the county’s technology purchases are ongoing costs — subscriptions, licensing and maintenance — and that lifecycle planning is needed to avoid failures. “When you try to get every bit out of [devices]… it fails on you. It’s, when you need it, it doesn’t work,” Phelan said.
The department highlighted three priorities: an ongoing device‑as‑a‑service (DaaS) leasing model that replaces about a quarter of the fleet each year, firewall modernization as the first line of network defense, and a “high availability” secondary internet connection that would let county services fail over if the primary site goes down. Phelan estimated DaaS will normalize at roughly $1 million per year once fully phased (roughly $250,000 annually during the current four‑year ramp).
Supervisors questioned budget timing and operational impacts. Phelan said DaaS is already underway and hard to pause without higher support and downtime costs. He recommended priority ordering: DaaS first, then firewall modernization, then high‑availability internet.
The board and IT discussed cybersecurity staffing and alternatives such as cooperative contracts, state assessment services and the National Guard, and the possibility of regional or contracted services. Phelan said the county uses state and federal assessments but that “the bad guys are getting really good,” and local investment in cybersecurity remains important.
Why it matters: County technology underpins elections, courts, public safety and daily operations. ITS requested ongoing and capital funding to reduce downtime and security risk and urged the board to view IT as a multi‑year capital program rather than a series of discreet purchases.
