Texas City IT director urges attention to cybersecurity and staffing as digital services expand

Kyle Hunter, the city’s innovation and technology director, told the Texas City Commission on May 20 that the municipal IT operation has evolved from a help desk into a four‑person unit that supports public‑facing services, utilities, public safety and other critical systems.

"The department now manages and supports the technology infrastructure that nearly every city service depends on," Hunter said, describing work on online services, library systems, utility billing and emergency‑service connectivity. He said the help desk reached 91% of the previous year’s ticket volume within seven months, and that the city blocks hundreds of thousands of malicious emails each year.

Hunter outlined projects to strengthen security — multi‑factor authentication, endpoint protection, platform integration to share threat intelligence and AI‑driven monitoring — and to increase resilience, including partner‑backed secondary internet connections to maintain operations during outages. He also described the department’s mission to modernize systems and improve compliance with state and federal cybersecurity requirements.

Commissioner Jason Delgado praised the IT team’s work, calling it "really heroic," and asked for multi‑year financial context. "When we look at what we're spending on IT versus cities similar to us, we may need to consider upping our investment," Delgado said, urging commissioners to consider IT funding in the next budget cycle.

City leaders asked staff to return with additional budget context and performance data so the commission can weigh whether to increase staffing or resources. The presentation closed with an offer from Hunter to meet individually with commissioners for deeper technical briefings.

The commission did not take formal action on IT funding at the meeting; staff indicated budget questions would be considered during the upcoming budget process.