Hernando County Government has decided to contract with the Clerk of the Court’s office to provide information technology services starting October 1st. There will be a savings by a reduction of staff as only some of the current positions in County Information Technology department would have equivalent positions in the Clerk’s office. The additional work from the county would be picked up by the current information technology staff at the clerk’s office.
The displaced County Information Technology staff will have the first opportunity to apply for the new positions at the Clerk’s office. The clerk hopes to retain some of the staff when the new contract goes into effect on October 1st.
Much of the cost savings of the new arrangement will be realized by a reduction in staff as Information technology is transitioned to the Clerk’s office. As time goes on there will be additional cost savings by consolidating some of the duplicate contracts that the county and clerk’s office have for software.
This is not the first time the Clerk’s office will be in charge of the County Information Technology department. During Doug Chorvat’s time as the Clerk’s Information Technology Director from 2009 to 2013 the county had contracted with the clerk to oversee their department.
Information technology is rarely seen when it is working, but if it should fail it becomes very visible. If the county has information technology issues it could prevent everything else from being done. Without the information technology infrastructure, the county’s business comes to a screeching halt. Additionally, municipal governments have become a popular target of ransomware and spear phishing. The information technology staff will have their work cut out for them.
