Commissioners approve IT administrative changes, internship and West Texas A&M experiential agreement

Hutchinson County commissioners approved several personnel and administrative actions for the county information technology department, including a new departmental credit card, reassignment of phone-system ownership, an experiential-education agreement with West Texas A&M and a summer intern.

The court voted to issue a Citi credit card to IT Director Richard Hine with a $1,500 credit limit. The clerk noted the county is moving away from generic department cards toward cards issued to individuals so that charges are directly attributable; temporary limit increases can be arranged for larger purchases. "It's better to have it in an actual person's name rather than a generic because it makes them personally responsible for the charges that are on that card," a speaker said.

Commissioners also approved designating Richard Hine as the phone-system account owner to replace the account currently listed under a previous employee named Russell. The change will allow Hine to make requested account changes that had not been possible under the prior account listing.

In executive session, the court approved a West Texas A&M experiential education program agreement involving the college and Richard Hine, and subsequently approved adding a paid IT department intern. The approved intern position will work 10 hours per week, scheduled to begin June 2 and end Aug. 4, at a rate the court entered into the record during the meeting as $10 per hour. The motion to add the intern referenced that the pay was already included in the approved budget.

All actions were approved by voice vote. The county did not provide additional operational rules for the card usage during the meeting beyond the general approach of canceling individual cards when staff leave and phasing out department-level cards over time. No new security or technical details about the phone system were disclosed in the public portion of the meeting.