Pulaski County has already taken the step of hiring a full-time IT Director, but now the position needs equipment to function properly.
The Pulaski County Commissioners announced RB Walters as their hire for the position earlier this month. He came before the County Council on Monday to make the request for equipment purchases.
Walters says he’s starting with nothing.
“I don’t have a laptop, I don’t have equipment to check PC’s, network cables, anything,” says Walters.
The IT Director position was created in the county following a contractor providing notice that their services would not be continued into the future at the contract rate.
The Sheriff’s Department is a strong user of the service for 911 dispatch, but other courthouse offices can experience computer problems. Among the challenges for the IT position is being on call 24 hours per day.
Which budgets to pay the expenses out of was a bit of a mystery for the County Council as they’re still figuring out how the position will fully operate.
Auditor Shiela Garling says they’ve always worked these situations similarly in the past.
“If I needed something for my office, it was billed to my office,” says Garling. “The only thing that was paid out of the Commissioners budget, and the Justice Center budget was the labor. Everything else was paid out of our individual budgets if we had to have repairs.”
About $3,100 of equipment was requested for the department.
The Pulaski County Council approved paying the expenses out of the Cumulative Capital Fund and County Maintenance Fund.
