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IT administrator recommends four-phase IT upgrade to address outages and security risks
Summary
IT Administrator Kevin Epps proposed a four-phase upgrade—migrate to state-hosted Office 365 ($75,000/yr), overhaul backups ($5,500/yr), move to fiber ($3,500/yr) and switch to VoIP phones ($2,800/yr)—to reduce outages and ransomware risk; Council discussed funding from the General Fund.
Kevin Epps, the city’s IT Administrator, told Council that repeated outages and an outdated desktop environment require a phased modernization plan.
He recommended four phases: migrate to a state-hosted Office 365 environment to comply with state regulations and achieve a quoted 98% uptime (annual cost estimated at $75,000); revise backup procedures to reduce ransomware exposure using decommissioned servers (annual cost estimated at $5,500); upgrade network transport from coax to fiber to reduce outages (approximately $3,500/year); and replace the Nortel phone system with VoIP to unify departmental telephony (approximately $2,800/year).
Council Member William Burnette called the current system antiquated and urged implementing the phases quickly; Council Member Jason A. Spriggs asked where funds would come from and Manager Blackmon said the General Fund would be used. Members flagged a contemporaneous worldwide cyberattack during the presentation and Epps acknowledged the relevance of that risk to the city’s systems.
Epps thanked Council for their time; Blackmon noted security and ongoing maintenance as important priorities and said staff would bring funding details forward during the budget process.
