May 10, 2023 |
Photo – Rawlins City Hall – Bigfoot99 file photo
Rawlins officials have chosen to hire an outside tech firm instead of filling the city’s vacant IT Manager position.
During last Tuesday’s Rawlins city council meeting, Councilman Chris Weisenburg motioned to allow Interim City Manager Tom Sarvey to contract with a Casper-based information technology firm.
The city’s former IT Director, Josiah Peterson, left in February. Peterson, who worked in the city’s IT department for just over two years, took a network administrator job at a Washington state-based cabinet manufacturing company. The city has been without an IT director ever since. Sarvey said instead of hiring a new Information Technology Manager, Computer Professionals Unlimited, or CPU, would take the place of the entire IT department.
Sarvey said a Computer Professionals Unlimited employee would visit the city once a week to provide in-person technical support.
Councilwoman Tonya Lewman asked Sarvey if contracting with CPU would cost the same as hiring a new IT director. The interim city manager said the price was similar.
The city must solicit bids for any purchase or contract which exceeds $35,000. Councilman Weisenburg asked Sarvey why they didn’t need to advertise for additional bids.
Sarvey said Weisenburg was correct. The city is not required to solicit bids for a professional service.
Councilman Darril Garner asked Sarvey if CPU would provide support for the city’s network servers during their in-person visits. Councilman Garner asked if the company had mistakenly omitted the service from the contract or if they required an additional payment.
Sarvey said the omission appeared to be simply an error. The city manager said CPU had specifically stated they would maintain the servers.
The city council unanimously voted to authorize the contract with Computer Professionals Unlimited for one year.
