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IT seeks network upgrades, fleet-management software and a cybersecurity position
Summary
The city—hief information officer presented FY26 requests for network hardware upgrades, fleet-management software, and an information-security staff position to address growing cyber risk and aging infrastructure.
Hoover City's IT director outlined operating and capital requests that include a proposed fleet-management software acquisition, network hardware upgrades, security-firewall renewals, replacement of mobile data terminals for police vehicles and a requested information-security position.
The operating budget proposal listed a roughly $233,215 increase across IT operations (about 5% year-over-year), reflecting maintenance, software subscriptions and hardware lifecycle costs. The department flagged a crypto-spike line item that had been reduced from an earlier estimate. A $210,000 line item would fund fleet-management software to unify vehicle maintenance, asset tracking and analytics; the CIO said the platform could also support building maintenance and inspections.
Capital requests included year 4 of 5 to replace police mobile data terminals ($120,000), a multiyear firewall replacement (year 1 of 3, $85,000), 100-gig network cards ($60,000), network-switch replacements ($85,000 to refresh ~10% of switches) and an ExaGrid disaster-recovery appliance ($85,000) to mirror the public-safety center's backup storage.
The director emphasized staffing shortfalls: IT currently has nine full-time employees plus fractional support embedded with police and fire. A 2018 staffing study recommended 18 FTEs. The department asked to create an information-security role responsible for cybersecurity training, documentation, policies and risk management; the director cited a recent local municipality cyberattack with large costs as rationale for the position.
Council members asked about inclusion of iPads for council in the proposed IT budget; the director said council devices are incorporated into the IT request. No formal appropriation was made during the hearing; the items will be reviewed in the budget process.
