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Shawnee IT budget flat after GIS move; staff highlight cybersecurity defenses and potential vendor changes for web accessibility
Summary
IT staff said prices and licensing drive contract increases even as the department loses two GIS positions to community development; presenters emphasized cybersecurity work — noting hundreds of thousands of blocked connections in a single hour — and reported a $50,000 platform savings from a Mendix migration.
An information-technology director (presenting as city IT leadership) said IT’s 2026 budget reflects a reduction in personnel after moving GIS staff to community development but shows contracting cost increases driven by licensing and service changes.
“I pulled a random hour, and we blocked over 308,000 308,000 bad connections in 1 hour,” the IT presenter said, describing the city’s network defenses and the scale of external traffic the city blocks.
Why it matters: IT costs and cybersecurity posture affect daily city operations, public-safety technology and resident-facing services. The loss of GIS from IT shifts mapping responsibilities to community development and reduces IT staff counts while changing where those costs appear in the budget.
Staff said the Mendix migration reduced one licensing line by roughly $50,000 and cited ongoing increases in enterprise contracts (for example, Microsoft licensing). The department is budgeting for equipment-reserve transfers that ebb and flow year to year as capital hardware and storage purchases occur. The presentation listed a staffing complement of 12 after the GIS move, including a newly converted full-time help-desk technician.
IT staff also described routine cybersecurity training, phishing exercises, and disaster-recovery processes and said they regularly test backups and recovery plans. The presenter emphasized support for public-safety systems that require high uptime and frequent maintenance.
Ending: The IT presentation was informational. Council members asked about confidence in ransomware protections; staff said their layered defenses, maintenance practices and training give them confidence but acknowledged staff awareness is a critical vulnerability.
