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IT and emergency communications ask for staff and funding to cover rising maintenance costs and mission-critical systems
Summary
IT asked for one technical support manager and a ~$35,000 maintenance increase mainly to cover higher VMware costs; ECC requested a public-safety technology coordinator with Fort Lee cost-sharing to support 24/7 mission-critical systems and reduce reactive workloads.
County IT and the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) presented technology staffing and contract increases tied to rising workload and vendor-cost changes.
IT staff (identified in Q&A as Mr. Uri) asked the board for an additional technical support/manager position and an increase in the maintenance/services line (about $35,000). The increase includes an annual rise from Tyler Technologies for the county's enterprise resource planning software and a substantial VMware cost increase after that product's acquisition by Broadcom. "Our ticket queue usually has about 60 or 70 things that are waiting for our support," the IT presenter said, arguing an extra staff member would help manage after-hours work and project needs.
The ECC presentation described a staffing complement of about 20, daily minimums that are below ideal levels (three per shift during most of the day, two at 00:00'08:00), and growing operational metrics: roughly 104,000 phone events in 2025 and higher records entries. ECC requested a public-safety technology coordinator to be the primary technology lead for public-safety platforms (police, fire, EMS and Fort Lee), citing device counts, 24/7 reliance on mission-critical systems, and vendor support complexities. ECC proposed Fort Lee cover a portion of the position (presenters cited a Fort Lee share of $56,594) and said they are updating the intergovernmental agreement to reflect the arrangement.
Board members asked about SLAs, overtime reductions if positions are funded, and how quickly IT could pivot off VMware if the board declines the maintenance increase. IT staff said migrating away from VMware would likely take many months and could require substantial upfront hardware and software costs; they estimated a best-case six-month pivot timeline but cautioned it may take longer.
What happens next: staff will return with cost breakdowns and options; contracting and IGSA updates with Fort Lee will be developed for future board consideration.
