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IT director urges pay study as county rolls out backups, Arctic Wolf security and an AI access policy
Summary
Jackson County IT reported major infrastructure and security investments — cloud backups, VPN migration, endpoint protection and a $2 million Arctic Wolf warranty — and warned staff shortages and market pay disparities threaten operations; an AI access policy is under legal review.
Mike Erickson, Jackson County’s director of information technology, briefed the budget committee on 2025 accomplishments and 2026 requests, emphasizing infrastructure refreshes and cybersecurity safeguards.
Erickson said the county completed a SharePoint/intranet relaunch, implemented Aumentum and medical examiner software, and launched a Granicus GXA AI chat pilot. He described infrastructure investments including replacement of core switches and edge network devices, a cloud backups project for Microsoft 365 and a VPN migration to Cloudflare intended to improve security and user experience.
On security, Erickson said Arctic Wolf services have strengthened the county’s posture and include endpoint protection and a managed detection capability; the county also secured a warranty/insurance arrangement tied to Arctic Wolf with coverage up to $2,000,000 for incident response costs. He said participation in Arctic Wolf training had been strong but participation recently dipped; managers will begin following up with staff who miss required training.
Erickson warned that IT is under‑resourced, with one primary security analyst carrying the bulk of work, and that salaries lag market rates. He recommended a pay study to bring IT compensation closer to regional market levels to improve retention and recruitment. He and legislators discussed a possible phased approach to salary adjustments.
On AI policy, Erickson said the county is developing rules to limit direct access to open large‑language models such as ChatGPT, citing data protection risks for sensitive county data. He said the draft policy is under review in the counselor’s office.
Legislators asked about the scope and timing of planned hardware replacements and backup projects; Erickson said many purchases include multi‑year maintenance and that the county is balancing capital and operational funds. He also noted a PC replacement/lease rollout and a plan to end Windows 10 usage by year‑end.
The committee requested more precise staffing and salary figures tied to the proposed pay study and asked IT to return with options that balance market competitiveness and budget constraints.
