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County IT asks planning subcommittee to back cybersecurity, broadband expansion and legacy-system replacements
Summary
The Office of Information Technology told the Planning Board subcommittee it needs capital funding to replace aging systems, expand fiber and broadband to underserved areas, continue digital-equity work and bolster cybersecurity and incident response.
Chris Martin, deputy director of the Office of Information Technology, told the Planning Board Subcommittee that OITis the centralized IT organization that supports county departments and that its FY26 capital request focuses on cybersecurity, fiber and broadband expansion, reducing technical debt and replacing legacy systems.
"OIT is a centralized IT department for the county government," Martin said. He described a portfolio that supports roughly 12,000 endpoint devices, about 55 active projects at any time and a mix of capital and operating work that funds both implementation and ongoing software licensing.
Martin reviewed multi-year work to remove aging systems, citing recent removals such as the mainframe and replacement of a legacy computer-aided dispatch system. Current priorities include cybersecurity resilience and incident response planning, storage resiliency, a replacement for the land-use regulatory automation system (LARA), upgrades to the BCON county fiber program, digital-equity programs that delivered Chromebooks and other devices, and a replacement for the LoRa-based county data system.
He described broadband efforts as a mix of federal and state grants and county capital that targets unserved and underserved homes. Martin said past grants (FY21, FY22, FY23) have connected thousands of homes and that the "long driveways" program targets hard-to-reach properties; he said the grants will cover a limited subsidy per home and that homeowners typically must contribute the remainder. Martin cautioned he did not have the exact per-driveway subsidy amount during the presentation and said he would supply that detail later.
On contingency and recent capital spending, Martin said OIT commonly carries a contingency line to respond to legislative, regulatory or unexpected technology changes. He told members his team rolled over about $170,000 of contingency into the current cycle and that the department spent about $900,000 from its capital authorization last year; he said both figures were small compared with the bureauwide capital totals. A committee member asked whether the roughly $9.2 million asked for in the current capital submission is adequate; Martin said the request covers planned work and that the office has also pursued grant funding for vulnerability and resilience assessments.
Martin emphasized reducing technical debt by centralizing pillar applications (for example, Workday for HR and financial functions and a county GIS portal) and by expanding low-code solutions and human-centered design to improve deployments. He said OIT has also supported county digital-equity efforts in partnership with libraries and workforce programs, distributing roughly 14,000 Chromebooks as part of recent statewide partnerships.
Committee members asked about coordination with schools and community colleges (Martin said K-12 districts and community colleges run their own IT) and about interoperability, cybersecurity coordination with state and federal partners and the county's fiber and broadband last-mile approach. Martin said the county coordinates with other Maryland CIOs, state resources and federal partners including FBI and three-letter agencies when necessary.
Ending: Martin asked the subcommittee for continued support for centralization, cybersecurity investments and broadband and said OIT would provide requested contract and pricing details by email.
