DTS warns of cybersecurity and staffing risks as it trims capital ask, prioritizes AI and resilience
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Summary
The Department of Technology Services proposed a smaller FY27 capital plan and a modest operating increase to maintain cybersecurity and AI readiness after federal support changes; DTS also warned that two FTE reductions and deferred Connect Arlington projects increase operational risk and asked the board for guidance on prioritizing staff vs capital investments.
Holly Hartel, director of the Department of Technology Services, told the board DTS’s FY27 operating request reflects a constrained environment and a focus on digital services, cybersecurity and measured AI adoption. Hartel outlined several accomplishments — a pilot virtual agent (“Ava”), an expanded enterprise document search (145,000 documents), migration of the public‑safety CAD system to a cloud architecture, and an enterprise Windows update program — and said those efforts increased resilience while saving operating dollars in some areas.
Hartel said changes at the federal level reduced low‑cost cybersecurity services the county previously relied on, and DTS used contingency funds for an interim solution; the FY27 operating ask therefore includes funding to maintain the new cybersecurity posture and AI readiness. DTS also described efficiency savings from virtualization and from moving some enterprise records management and hosting functions to cloud platforms, but warned that two FTEs are affected by proposed staffing changes: elimination of a database administrator role (managing ~150 databases) and a vacant technology business relationship coordinator. Hartel said redistributing specialized workloads increases incident response risk.
On capital, DTS proposed shrinking its advertised CIP from $8.9 million to about $6.1 million to reflect current fund availability and deferred projects. The capital package still requests device/lifecycle refresh ($3.2M), network and perimeter security refresh ($2.3M) and server/backup refresh ($400,000); single‑sign‑on and additional Connect Arlington resilience work were noted as unfunded priorities. Hartel flagged a structural shift: lower cable franchise (PEG) revenue requires more general‑fund support for Connect Arlington going forward.
Board members probed the operational risk of the database administrator cut, the governance and environmental implications of AI adoption, and whether DTS should prioritize capital (for single sign‑on, Connect Arlington resilience) or hire additional staff to restore redundancy. Hartel said DTS is piloting AI training and governance (acceptable‑use policy and training pilots) and will follow up with usage metrics for the public Wi‑Fi and more detailed cost allocations for constitutional partners.
No final staffing or capital decision was taken at the work session; DTS will provide follow‑up information requested by the board.