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IT director warns of cybersecurity risk, seeks $510,000 server replacement and pay correction
Summary
Kerr County IT Director Corey Tennis told commissioners aging servers and unsupported hardware create security and operational risk; current vendor quotes rose from about $180,000 to $380,000 and Tennis outlined a phased plan that could cost roughly $510,000 countywide; he also asked for salary step/grade corrections after studies showed IT pay lagging peers.
Corey Tennis, the county’s IT director, told commissioners that long-running server hardware is reaching the end of service life and leaves county systems, including sheriff systems, vulnerable. He described a plan to retire and replace three separate file servers with a consolidated system and said initial vendor quotes have risen sharply.
"When I first looked at doing this replacement ... it would have been about $180,000. The quote I got six weeks ago came in at 380," Tennis said. He estimated a possible countywide expenditure of roughly $510,000 to modernize servers and protect personally identifiable information on county systems.
Tennis also asked the court to consider a salary correction for IT staff. He cited a county salary study showing the IT department was about 15% below peers and his own local study showing pay as much as 43% below peers; he asked for step‑and‑grade adjustments and said even after proposed corrections the department could remain below market.
Commissioners expressed concern about security risk and encouraged Tennis to phase the request, consolidate existing contracts and return with consolidated cost figures and suggested that some of the work could be phased into the coming budget cycle. They also discussed possibly moving some contracted expenditures into a single IT budget line for transparency and long-term planning.
