Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Technology Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Marion City hears five‑year technology roadmap, consultants flag 43,000 hours of internal work
Summary
Consultants from Berry Dunn presented Marion’s five‑year technology strategic plan, outlining governance, workforce, core-systems modernization, data integration, and infrastructure priorities and an implementation roadmap; council queried a 43,000‑hour internal effort estimate and confirmed training costs are included.
Consultants from Berry Dunn presented Marion’s five‑year technology strategic plan Tuesday, laying out priorities and a phased implementation roadmap the city could use to modernize core systems and strengthen governance.
"My name is Jeff Martin. I was the project manager for Berry Dunn," the consultant said, describing the discovery and strategic‑planning phases that produced a Current Environment Assessment and a list of 23 priority technology projects. Erin Probozic, a senior manager with the firm, said the team identified 36 challenges and grouped projects under five focus areas: governance and management; workforce and capacity; core‑systems modernization; integration and data; and infrastructure and public safety.
The plan recommends establishing technology governance processes and a project‑management framework, augmenting staff and creating an IT training program, expanding integrations and automation, pursuing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and asset/fleet systems, and modernizing traffic management and security‑camera infrastructure. Consultants presented a five‑year sequencing that prioritizes foundational governance and staffing in years 1–2, major system selection and implementations in years 2–4, and optimization and pilots in years 4–5.
Council members probed implementation details. One asked whether training was included in cost estimates; Jeff Martin said, "Yes. The cost estimates include training as well as some other items within the total cost of those system selection and implementation activities." A separate question focused on the plan’s estimate of roughly 43,000 internal resource hours over five years; consultants said the total reflects internal staff effort across multiple departments and should be treated as a relative level‑of‑effort estimate rather than a precise timekeeping figure.
Deputy IT Director Nicholas Herbovic introduced the consultants and said the study drew on staff interviews and a department‑wide survey. Council members said they were encouraged by the plan’s focus on predictable, repeatable governance and noted that a formal committee representing departments would help guide prioritization.
The presentation concluded with council discussion and general support for moving forward; staff will bring follow‑up materials and next steps as departments refine staffing and budgeting assumptions.
