County trying to deal with IT growth

By Rick Nelson

Wahkiakum County officials are searching for a way to deal with the growing demands of information technology.

For years, staff in the county auditor's office have maintained the system, but Auditor Diane Tischer has said the system has become too sophisticated and too time consuming for her staff.

Members of the Information Technology Committee have been evaluating the situation and on Tuesday recommended the board of commissioners consider hiring an IT professional to manage the system.

Commissioner Blair Brady was absent--he was attending a meeting of the board of directors of the National Association of Counties, and colleagues Dan Cothren and Mike Backman wanted him present to discuss the recommendation.

IT Committee spokesperson Chris Weiler said the committee feels the board needs to hire an IT specialist, but the committee isn't ready to make a specific recommendation without budgetary direction from the commissioners.

"Our recommendation will need to be based on the budget," Weiler said. "That's your direction."

The committee recognizes that the nature of IT work has become more and more technical, and no one in the auditor's office has the expertise to support all the programs used in all the departments, Weiler said.

"We truly need an IT leader," he said, "someone competent in the technical language, a chief tech officer.

The ideal situation would be to have a full time person on the job, but that situation has a problem, for the computers are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and one person can't cover that continual operation.

The system has four areas of concern, Weiler said; they are strategic leadership, administration, finance and IT support.

It could be possible to separate the areas among different parties, Weiler said. For example, the county's current IT consultant, More Power Computers, could handle the IT work and the auditor's office could handle administration and finance. However, there's no strategic leader under that arrangement.

The committee provided an outline of four scenarios. In one, the county hired a full-time IT leader; in the second, a part-time leader; in the third, a department head would take responsibility, and in the fourth, the county would hire a contractor.

The committee felt the county could hire a full-time IT leader for approximately $60,000, $80,000 including benefits.

Commissioners said they would put the item on the agenda for further discussion when all are present.