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Town centralizes IT support for police and fire, shifting costs into technology budget
Summary
Hamilton's new chief technology officer said the town is bringing police and fire IT support in-house, increasing the technology department's operating budget to absorb licensing, Axon body-camera contracts and server licensing; staff argued the move will lower long-term contracted costs and improve service quality.
Bob McQueen, Hamilton's chief technology officer, told councilors the technology department is consolidating support for police and fire and absorbing several contracts and licenses into a central operating budget.
"I'm Bob McQueen, the chief technology officer started here last year," McQueen said. He said taking police and fire IT support in-house follows the end of an outsourcing contract and will reduce external hourly and on-call charges while providing more specialized local support for law enforcement and emergency systems.
Budget drivers McQueen identified included the Axon body-worn camera contract (the department cited roughly $90,000 as the relevant contract element), a required ADA/civic module mandated by federal requirements, Office-product licensing updates for police applications and rising costs for virtual-server (VMware/Hyper-V) maintenance. He estimated that centralizing these services would cut a portion of prior external support costs and improve responsiveness because the town's staff know local systems and law-enforcement needs.
Councilors asked about staffing: McQueen said technology currently has five staff and expects to add a computer-operator trainee (bringing headcount to six) and to experiment with a 1 p.m.-9 p.m. swing-shift to support after-hours needs at the new municipal building. He also asked the council to consider capital for network and storage equipment tied to the new building's outfitting, explaining that some purchases were already approved in prior capital plans and are not duplicated in this year's capital request.
Next steps: McQueen said technology will continue to evaluate lower-cost software alternatives (for example, Adobe alternatives), seek vendor cost savings and return with refined cost and staffing projections as consolidation progresses.
