Arapahoe IT seeks one‑time modernization dollars, new licenses and staff to close cybersecurity gaps

Arapahoe County’s information technology team asked commissioners to consider a multi‑year modernization approach that would smooth steep, deferred IT costs and fund cybersecurity, endpoint protection and accessibility remediation.

Theo (IT director) told the board the department supports more than 180 applications, 3,000 county computing devices and 400 servers with roughly 700 terabytes of storage. He warned that several critical contracts and software are at or near end‑of‑life and that the county’s Google contract expires in 2026, creating a one‑time implementation pressure if the county transitions infrastructure.

Theo and staff outlined a list of immediate needs they labeled ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’ including an emergency notification solution, enterprise ticketing (ITSM) replacement for Cherwell, endpoint protection (Zscaler), updated Microsoft licensing (E3/E5) and a proposed digital accessibility remediation fund for on‑demand remediation of documents. "This is just kind of a breakdown," an IT presenter said during the briefing while explaining ongoing admin caps and program administration costs.

IT also proposed several new FTEs to increase project delivery capacity and recommended creation of a dedicated technology modernization fund (modeled on other municipalities’ multi‑year scheduling) to amortize large complex projects over time and avoid one‑year budget spikes.

Commissioners asked staff to return with detailed cost estimates and scenarios (including total cost of ownership and where Microsoft E5 licensing might substitute for third‑party security products). The board signaled they would weigh the modernization concept but requested refined budget packages before formal funding decisions.