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Leavenworth County proposes new IT hires and cyber defenses as legacy systems near end of life
Summary
The county’s Information Systems director asked commissioners for additions to staffing (network administrator, help-desk technician), hardware refreshes, and centralized subscription management to address cybersecurity risks and aging network infrastructure ahead of 2027 security deadlines.
Leavenworth County’s Information Systems director told commissioners the 2027 IS budget represents a risk-mitigation pivot as the county migrates core municipal infrastructure to cloud services and faces aging network hardware and rising subscription costs.
"Managing our modern municipal digital footprint cannot be sustained using legacy reactive type models," the IS director said, outlining three primary liabilities: an understaffed team, an escalating cyber threat landscape and an aging network core. He asked for investment in human capital — specifically a network administrator and additional help-desk technician — to provide specialization and redundancy.
Commissioners pressed for specifics about what a network administrator would do. IT staff answered that current personnel wear many hats, producing single points of failure: "If 1 of our staff members … is sick for a week, we're done," an IT staffer said, arguing a specialized network hire would allow directors to focus on infrastructure projects.
The IS director also described planned network device refreshes, hardware replacements for EMS and the Register of Deeds, higher subscription fees for critical software, deployment of a vulnerability scanner and identity-protection tools including multi-factor authentication, and work to satisfy Department of Homeland Security–related website accessibility requirements.
The board did not take formal action during the presentation; commissioners signaled support for addressing cyber risk but asked county staff to return with specifics and cost breakdowns for positions and projects.
Next steps: county staff will provide more detailed cost estimates and timing for the requested hires and infrastructure refreshes during budget review.
