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LaGrange Co. Commissioners merge GIS and IT departments
By: Tim Murray - Wednesday, January 22, 2020

LAGRANGE – The LaGrange County Commissioners made an organizational change Tuesday.

They moved the GIS department from a stand-alone department and made it a part of the I-T department.

The change came after a meeting between GIS Director Deb Naylor, I-T Director Bob Murphy, and County Commissioner Terry Martin just last Friday.

Martin gave this explanation during Tuesday’s commissioner meeting.

"We felt that it makes sense to put them down there with the IT. A lot of what they do is IT related. In the majority of counties it's under the IT department. I just think things will be worked on better under the IT department because there is so much going on with this Spillman system coming in and what they have to do with that."

The Spillman system refers to the records management system being installed at the sheriff's office.

Later Martin provided us with a written statement that said “The IT Director is often the only employee with the expertise to handle routine technology issues that relate to GIS availability and protection, and he can now resolve such issues unilaterally and more efficiently.“

It goes on to say, “The reorganization streamlines the communications process when taking map data received from third parties (Pictometry) and making it available to the public as part of the GIS process and Beacon-Schneider.”

The move will put a fourth person fulltime into the IT Department.

Quoting from the statement: “It gives the County flexibility in assigning job duties to an assistant-level employee who can devote some hours directly to IT work and others to GIS projects, as necessary, potentially combining two assistant positions into one and thereby saving the County money.  The IT Department budget can similarly benefit from the flexibility of the merger.”

Because the change takes Naylor from a salaried to an hourly employee, the commissioners agreed to grant her one week of vacation time.



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