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Salisbury information services asks for level funding and extra money to catch up on computer replacements; GIS to be rebranded
Summary
Director Steve Dickerson told the City Council the department is requesting level funding and additional money to address a backlog of computer replacements after last year’s cuts, and said the GIS division will be rebranded as Data Services to reflect broader work.
Steve Dickerson, director of information services for the City of Salisbury, told the City Council that his department will request level funding from last year and additional funds to make up for deferred computer replacements.
Dickerson said last year the department had $20,000 for computer replacement but had requested $130,000, leaving the department “behind the ball” on replacing aging computers. "We are kind of behind the ball on replacing computers within the city," he said, adding that the department tries to replace city computers at six to seven years of service.
Dickerson said the department scheduled replacement of 54 PCs last year and replaced 25; about 29 remained. For the coming budget year he said the department is scheduled to replace 64 computers. He warned that in the next budget year the department expects to replace 69 machines and that a higher share will be laptops — purchased as part of pandemic-era replacements in 2020 — which "cost more money to maintain and they don't last as long as a typical desktop computer." That, he said, will increase replacement costs.
The department also described several budgetary reallocations and operational changes. Dickerson said the annual internet expense previously paid from a maintenance-contract account will be paid from a designated internet account going forward. He said software and maintenance for the city’s Munis financial system have been consolidated into fewer accounts so the Munis annual service agreement can be paid from a centralized account rather than charged back to every department.
On infrastructure, Dickerson said a prior capital project stood up three virtual arrays around the city to run virtual servers and that the equipment for those arrays was leased rather than purchased as a cost-saving measure.
John O'Brien, assistant director of information services, described a name change for the department’s GIS group. "We're going to... it's a name. It's Data Services," O'Brien said, explaining the change was intended to reflect work beyond traditional spatial mapping. He said the rebranded group will provide analysis and visualizations of spatial and tabular data to help departments make "data driven decisions".
Council members and the mayor praised recent work by information services, including improvements to the city phone system and new data-sharing efforts. Dickerson and O'Brien noted the department is piloting Placer AI for location-based device data to inform planning and said the department has been supporting the comprehensive plan and analysis for public safety departments.
No formal motions or votes were recorded on the matter during this exchange; the discussion was part of the council’s budget review and questions for departmental leadership. Councilmembers and staff indicated they would revisit replacement-schedule funding during next year’s budget process.
The department provided the numerical details above during the council exchange; other budget line numbers or full budget totals were not specified in the discussion.
