The Starkville Board of Aldermen Tuesday night took another step toward upgrading the city”s Information Technology Department.
During the board”s monthly recess meeting at City Hall, aldermen interviewed four candidates for the position of Information Technology manager. When hired, the new employee will run the IT Department and be in charge of upgrading city computer systems and technology, improving the city”s website and troubleshooting for Starkville employees, among other tasks. The position, which Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk said is fit for “a Jack of all trades,” will pay between $52,000 and $70,000 per year.
Aldermen moved forward on the agenda after the interviews and did not indicate when they expect to make a hire. Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas said the city should make a hire as soon as possible “to get out of this proverbial IT rut we”ve been in.”
Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk shared similar sentiments and said the city will operate more efficiently with up-to-date technology.
“You use technology, or you bring people on and push more paper,” Sistrunk said.
Starkville”s lone IT Department employee, Al Quinn, resigned Dec. 31 and the city has been contracting IT work to Synergetics. After aldermen hire a department manager, the board plans to hire another IT Department employee to replace Quinn.
Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins said the expansion of the IT Department is another example of “government growing,” and said the city should attempt to rehire Quinn instead of hiring two new people.
“Given this tough economic time we”re in, we need to take some cost-saving measures,” Perkins said.
But Dumas said he disagreed with Perkins and said the city needs to be proactive in its technology upgrades. The website especially needs to be revamped, Dumas said.
“The disservice that”s being provided there is awful,” he said.
The four candidates for the position were Johnny Hughes, Tim McCoy, Matthew Harrison and Joel Clements.
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