In Wednesday evening work session on the proposed 2019 budget, the City Council learned which technology initiatives intended to save time and money in the long term will be postponed because a shortage of those two things in the coming year.
“Implementing big systems that can provide big efficiencies requires staffing,” City Manager Dale Peters said.
He said the upfront costs of buying software and hardware along with the time it takes city staff for training, entering data, making sure the new technology works consistently and other implementation work is the hurdle.
The city’s Information Technology Department, which would be leading those efforts, has seen its duties far outpace staffing in recent years.
“We’re kind of at a little bit of a crossroads here,” said Bob Nelson, the city’s IT manager.
In the past decade, the number of devices — computers, wireless gadgets and equipment running its network — has grown 3½ times while only one staff position has been added to the IT department.
“If we don’t do something, I see us spinning into support-centric — keeping things running, but not moving the organization forward,” said Nelson, who has been in the city’s IT department for 13 years and was recently promoted to manager following the retirement of Jon Lebrun.
Councilman Jeremy Gragert counted up nearly $900,000 in requests for new IT funding — adding positions, equipment and software licenses — that were denied for next year. They are among about $2.35 million in requests from city departments for new positions and other ongoing expenses that were denied so that the city manager could present a balanced 2019 budget.
Every year the city does try to do some technology projects to improve efficiency, Peters said, but it can’t take on everything it wants to do.
Last year the city got a self-service system for employees, who can now get pay stubs, W-2s and other information electronically. However, a system to convert their timecards from paper forms to an electronic system remains on hold to find the money and staff resources for that.
“For all of those 500-some employees, we’re doing paper time sheets that have to be imputed and checked,” the city’s human resources director, Victoria Seltun, told the council.
The city’s system for building inspections will get a $250,000 upgrade in the proposed 2019 budget, making it available on electronic mobile devices so inspectors won’t have to use paper forms and later enter information into a computer.
Even with that in next year’s budget, community development director Scott Allen said he’s anticipating it will take a year to 18 months for that system to be fully operational.
Councilman David Strobel asked about the potential of outsourcing some of its IT work so the city could get new technology up and running.
Peters replied that the city does use some outside contractors for some of its tech work but prefers to use its own staff because it costs less than the per-hour rate of hiring someone else.
“Outsourcing is expensive,” he said.
The City Council will have another budget work session Tuesday evening after its regular 4 p.m. meeting at the county courthouse, 721 Oxford Ave. That meeting will include information on proposed 2019 spending for the police and fire departments, street work, public works, parks and several other funds.
The council will hold a public hearing Nov. 12 on the proposed 2019 budget and is scheduled to vote on it the following day.
©2018 the Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wis.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
