Technology Services to add system administrator, tighten security and expand online portals

Jason Newkirk, technology services director, told the council the department is prioritizing security, application consolidation and public‑facing portals to save licensing costs and improve service delivery.

“We identify areas where we have similar work functions within the city and make sure we have a smaller set of enterprise applications,” Newkirk said, describing expected licensing and data‑sharing benefits.

Staff reported security upgrades this year, including a new email security tool and the deployment of an extended detection and response (XDR) solution to centralize security telemetry. Technology Services is replacing aging in‑vehicle devices with Panasonic Toughbook tablets and deploying a device‑management and remote‑assistance tool to reduce technician travel time.

Newkirk said the department requests one new FTE — a system administrator focused on the city’s financial system—to handle day‑to‑day administration and to build integrations (for example, between payroll and financial systems). He said a five‑year hardware maintenance period for the city’s data center has ended, producing a one‑time increase in recurring maintenance and licensing costs for FY26. The department also proposed a call‑filtering cloud solution to reduce spam and malicious phone calls and additional training funds for staff.

Ending — Newkirk said ongoing consolidation and upgrades will improve user experience for residents and businesses through a planned single sign‑on portal for licenses and permits and a push to migrate more services into enterprise systems.