Council flags IT consolidation and succession concern as county budgets for replacements

Multiple councilors and staff raised IT as a rapidly growing county expense and operational risk, noting that services and software are paid from multiple funds and that the county could lose continuity when its long-standing IT lead leaves.

Council member 5 summarized the concern: “Jeff provided a a Since he all pretty from the general fund…Jeff needs to clone himself and and teach that new clone everything he knows,” urging a formal plan for funding a second IT staffer and for consolidating multiple IT-related line items into a single, centralized IT budget. Staff agreed to bring proposals and cost estimates for FY 2028 planning; councilors said such a cleanup will be required before any hiring can occur because some IT spending is currently outside the general fund and cannot be used for wages.

Councilors asked for a stakeholder committee (liaisons were already appointed) and asked staff to return with a proposed consolidation and costing plan in time for next year's budget discussions. They also discussed whether to contract some services versus hiring internal staff, with attention to the total-cost-of-ownership for equipment, insurance and benefits.