Computer upgrade by county takes its first steps

Cape Girardeau County officials on Thursday took a formal step that will lead to a complete overhaul of the county's information technology system, an upgrade estimated to cost around $350,000.

Eighteen county officials, including officeholders and department heads, met in a roundtable discussion of changes to the Management of Information Systems department, the same department that used to be called Data Processing.

County Clerk Rodney Miller and Auditor David Ludwig conducted the meeting, which called for the attendees to formulate a road map for the upgrade. The overhaul is expected to take about a year.

The officials announced that Eric McGowan has been hired as the new information systems department director. He will start work on March 15. After the meeting, Ludwig said Robert Cox, the county's current data processing director, will not continue working for the county for the long term but will help with McGowan's transition.

Cox, who recently filed to run for county commissioner, wouldn't comment publicly on his job other than to say that his fate hasn't been determined yet. Cox, who has 10 years of experience working for the county, said he has not been fired and has not offered his resignation.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said it was his understanding that Cox was working through the end of this month.

"I thought he was supposed to submit his resignation at the end of February and work though March," Jones said.

The idea of upgrading the county's technology system has been discussed for some time. The county's departments run largely without networking. Commissioner Larry Bock said the county doesn't even have file servers, something common in most workplaces.

The lack of current technology makes for repetition. Many departments record information manually, then pass it along to another department to be entered into the computer.

"Our accounts payable system is very much outdated," said County Collector Dianne Diebold.

She said the overhaul will enable county employees to work more effectively and efficiently.

"That doesn't mean that people will sit around with nothing to do. It just means that with the way Cape County keeps growing, we can keep up without having to hire more people," Diebold said.

The funding for the improvement, Ludwig said, will come from the savings the county made when it refinanced its jail bonds last year.

Miller suggested that the committee conduct its first official meeting shortly after McGowan's arrival. Miller, McGowan and Ludwig will serve as the liaisons between the committee and the county commission.

"I think for the best of the county, we need to do it together and as a team effort," Miller said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635