Councilwoman casts blame for county IT resignations on commissioners

Tensions in local government may have escalated after a Bartholomew County councilwoman cast much of the blame for the loss of the entire information technology department on the county commissioners’ doorstep.

“I do not have confidence in the commissioners to solve our IT issues,” Laura DeDomenic said in a prepared statement read during Tuesday’s council meeting.

DeDomenic called on the commissioners to issue requests from multiple vendors to provide IT support, as well as use individuals with technical knowledge to evaluate and recommend the best solution for the county’s IT problems.

Nevertheless, the council vote 6-1, with DeDomenic casting the only nay vote, to approve $50,000 for a 60-day contract with Sharp Business Systems to provide IT support.

In her statement, the first-term council member denied that a lack of competitive salaries was the main reason eight IT employees resigned over the past 14 months, with the last employee leaving at the end of last week.

Instead, DeDomenic said former IT specialists have told her they were put in a terrible situation with no support from the commissioners.

“They felt they were not respected, appreciated, their input and opinions were ignored, they were expected to do more with less, and there were some bad hires that made the situation worse,”  she said.

For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.