Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Executive Services It topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Renton executive services seeks admin support, data analyst and recurring IT funding
Summary
Executive Services proposed adding administrative support and IT positions, expanding dashboards and governance with a data analyst, requested recurring cybersecurity funding and proposed a disaster-recovery site and a cautious AI pilot to support city operations and communications.
Christy (Executive Services) told the Committee of the Whole that internal review and 'right-sizing' created capacity to propose three positions across the department over the biennium: one administrative support position and two IT-related positions phased between 2025 and 2026. "We are seeking to add just 1 position to help support that person," she said of administrative support for a department that now supports the mayor’s office, CAO and multiple divisions.
Christy described a proposed data-analyst/report-writer role to expand outward-facing dashboards, improve transparency and implement governance and data categorization. She said the city currently uses Power BI as the main public dashboard platform but noted there are many internal databases that the new analyst would help unify and publish in more dynamic formats.
On capital IT asks, Christy said recurring cybersecurity investments are now a standard request each budget cycle. She also proposed moving disaster-recovery and business-continuity infrastructure to a geographically distant site (east of the mountains) to ensure service continuity in a catastrophic outage. On artificial intelligence, Christy proposed a small pilot that would be accompanied by internal policy standards to avoid eroding public trust: "We do not want to erode the trust in our information," she said.
Council members pressed for specifics on business-intelligence tools and operational implementation. Christy said Power BI is the primary outward-facing tool and that staff will follow up with a detailed list of internal systems the new analyst would use. On communications, she and council members identified Channel 21 as an underused asset funded by Comcast franchise/PEG fees; Christy said producing more short-form, civic-engagement content and better scheduling—enabled by administrative support—could increase viewership using existing funds.
The city will provide follow-up details on tool inventories and job descriptions as recruitment proceeds.
