Commissioners approve assistant IT director position after split vote

The Aransas County Commissioners Court voted 4–1 on Oct. 1 to create an assistant director position in the county Information Technology department, a management post staff said is intended to separate strategic/managerial duties from frontline technician work as the county plans for expanded responsibilities including accessibility and potential AI requirements.

County IT staff told the court the role is common in municipal IT organizations and will support strategic planning, separation of management and technical duties and future expansion of services. Staff said the pay group assigned to the job matches prior budgeting and does not immediately change current salaries; the county manager and IT director said the position aligns the job description with the already‑budgeted pay group.

Commissioner Cheney said he opposed creating a new assistant director title, arguing that existing senior deputies or senior technicians already perform supervisory roles and that the county should not add titles unnecessarily. The IT director and other staff said the title change formalizes management duties and prepares the county for increased technical demands such as multilingual accessibility, voice and other assistive services, and potential future AI requirements discussed at a recent conference.

County staff said no new money was required because the pay group aligns with the budget; at vote the motion passed. The court instructed staff to proceed with the position as described; job posting and classification steps were not detailed in the meeting record.