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Council approves first reading of $100,000 IT appropriation after heated public comment; suspension for immediate second reading fails
Summary
The Greenwood Common Council passed first reading of Ordinance 25‑12, a request for an additional $100,000 to the IT budget, after public commenters criticized the city’s outsourced IT provider Exos. A motion to suspend the rules and move to second reading failed; the council discussed scheduling a special meeting for further information.
The Greenwood Common Council voted 6‑2 to approve first reading of Ordinance 25‑12, a request to appropriate $100,000 to the information technology budget to replace network switches and address ongoing outages.
The appropriation sparked a public hearing in which two former city IT staffers urged the council to postpone funding Exos, the city’s contracted IT provider, and to seek bids or a full audit. Jeff Weichel, identified himself as a resident at 1428 Triangle Circle and a former city network administrator, told the council Exos had “clearly failed miserably” and warned, “If you hand Exos another hundred thousand dollars tonight… the city will be on its way back to doing its books back in and paper.” Former city IT director Bob Gold testified the outsourcing decision had led to persistent problems and called the current situation “a total disaster.”
Council members debated the urgency and the need for more technical detail. Several members said systems needed to be restored quickly because the payment portal and sanitation billing were affected; others said they lacked independent technical assessment and wanted Exos or another provider to present specifics before committing taxpayer funds. The council took a procedural vote on suspension to move Ordinance 25‑12 to second reading the same night; the motion to suspend the rules failed on a roll call vote of 0‑8.
Following the failed suspension, councilmembers discussed the possibility of a special meeting on Thursday to hear both Exos and alternative providers before taking final action. The mayor’s office said staff would work to schedule a meeting with at least 48 hours’ notice.
Ending: First reading of Ordinance 25‑12 passed 6‑2; the council did not approve immediate second reading after members said they wanted fuller technical justification and the opportunity to hear competing views.
