Commissioners adopt procedure directing IT to consult department heads and liaisons before cutting network access

A lengthy workshop on network access and email followed a complaint by the district attorney’s office that an employee who changed to contract status (“Beth”) lost county email and network access without notice, disrupting court work.

The DA explained the employee had been informed she would continue to assist with CPS matters under a contract and said that sudden loss of email and case-file access created immediate operational problems. IT staff cited existing policy that county-owned email and network resources are privileges available to paid employees and may be inspected or revoked.

Commissioners, HR and IT discussed the handbook language. Several commissioners proposed a procedural fix: before IT disables access following a status change, IT should confirm the change with the employee’s department head and, if the department head is unavailable or there are questions, consult the court liaisons who are designated to act between meetings. The DA said he would be satisfied with a targeted reinstatement of access that uses a separate access point rather than routing through another county’s network (Henderson County) while the contract is in place.

The court voted to direct that IT consult the department head and the court liaison prior to cutting network access in status-change cases and to update the employee handbook accordingly. Commissioners said the change is intended to avoid operational interruptions while preserving network security. The court closed the workshop portion and moved to schedule final handbook language for a future regular session.