County considers charging cities for IT support as police and communications equipment require setup

Winnebago County supervisors discussed a proposed agreement that would allow the county’s IT/communications staff to provide setup and limited IT services for city computers and communications equipment, including access to the county’s Shield software used by emergency services.

The item grew out of requests from Lake Mills and other small cities whose police department computers need configuration and software installs; city equipment has been waiting months for vendor action, and one city’s machines run Windows 10, which loses support in October, staff said. County staff and supervisors agreed it would be sensible for county IT to perform initial setups and remote support because the cities’ machines already sit on the county domain.

Board members asked staff to add standard billing terms to the agreement: an hourly charge that covers the county employee’s total compensation (salary and benefits prorated to an hourly rate) and reimbursement of mileage at the current IRS rate. Staff said they would update the draft to add a stated hourly rate plus the mileage reimbursement line and adjust the contract dates, then return the form for approval at a subsequent meeting; supervisors noted the goal is cost recovery rather than revenue generation.

Supervisors also discussed using remote-access tools for troubleshooting and the need for cities to meet minimum software/Windows requirements to remain on the county system.