IT director seeks technician or part‑time clerk, flags major software and cloud costs
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Summary
Cooke County IT director requested funding for one additional staff member (technician or part‑time clerk), flagged a 12% contract increase for core NetData services, and proposed several projects including patch‑management and cloud storage reconfiguration for law‑enforcement data.
Daryl Hober, Cooke County IT director, told the commissioners court the department is understaffed and proposed two staffing options: a full technician to handle technical support and free the director for planning, or a lower‑cost part‑time clerk to perform nontechnical tasks (deliver toner, answer phones) and reduce technician time spent on administrative work.
Hober said law‑enforcement support has consumed an increasing share of technical resources and that several long‑deferred projects — including replacing 13 library computers — have been delayed by higher‑priority break‑fix work. He asked the court to approve one new position but not both.
On software and service costs, Hober alerted the court that the county’s core NetData (financial/payroll/court) subscription is slated to increase about 12% next year, and he raised computer‑maintenance line items accordingly. He recommended adopting centralized patch‑management software (Ninja or similar) to meet Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) monitoring requirements for law‑enforcement machines (cost about $2,500–$4,900/year depending on scope). He also proposed finishing Adobe Acrobat upgrades on remaining machines ($99/year per machine for roughly 20 machines).
Hober said the sheriff’s office currently incurs about $10,000/year in cloud storage costs for body‑camera and evidence video and that he plans to work with sheriff’s staff to migrate to a cheaper provider that still meets retention and security needs.
He concluded by voicing support for an election administrator position, noting IT already spends days on voting‑machine testing each year.
