Luzerne County IT director seeks $3.1M in funding

In a presentation sprinkled with descriptions like “catastrophic” and “collapse,” Luzerne County Information Technology Director Mauro DiMauro hit county council Tuesday with a request for $3.1 million from the county’s $113 million American Rescue Plan earmark.

“Luzerne County is on the brink of disaster!!!” one page of his presentation said.

He was largely referring to a $970,000 virtualization infrastructure upgrade, saying only one more $40,000 maintenance extension is possible through October 2022. This system “runs the entire county,” he said.

It will take nine months to purchase and switch to a new system, and failure to act will force the county to return to “manual processing on paper,” he said.

If the county waits to act until the maintenance ends, the entire county will be “shut down for months,” DiMauro said.

DiMauro said he tried to include his requests in the county’s 2022 capital plan last spring but was informed he should wait for American Rescue funding.

A council majority has been holding off on approving expenditures from American Rescue funding because the federal government has not yet released final rules.

His proposal also included a request of $465,000 for virtual meeting support, saying he has used up all available funds for an outside contractor to run the combination in-person/remote meetings since his staff IT analyst resigned in September.

If funding is not quickly identified for virtual meeting support, DiMauro said the county will have to return solely to in-person meetings or accept that his existing staff will have to forego other pressing duties to handle the task.

DiMauro’s use of an outside consultant to run virtual meetings was unknown to County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo until county Councilman Walter Griffith recently sent an email indicating that person is not on staff.

Griffith questioned the IT Department’s ability to use the consultant without a contract approved by the county manager and notification to council that a non-employee had potential involvement in closed-door executive sessions.

As a result of this discovery and the sudden and dire budgetary demands, Crocamo told council she has asked the controller’s office to perform an audit of the information technology department’s contracts, expenses and hardware/software inventory and a survey of all his proposed projects.

His requests also included $425,000 for cybersecurity enhancements he said are necessary to comply with liability insurance requirements, including stepped-up identity requirements for employees accessing email.

Tens of thousands of dollars is needed to purchase software licenses that are expiring, he said.

DiMauro said none of the items he is requesting are “wishlist” and that his priority is ensuring all departments have uninterrupted access they need to provide services to the public.

Councilman Stephen J. Urban, who works in IT for a private company, challenged DiMauro’s cost estimates, strategy and reliance on outsourced assistance.

“You’re creating this dramatic situation like everything’s going to come to a dead stop,” Urban said, criticizing the “panic-stricken presentation.”

DiMauro took issue with Urban’s critique and offer of advice, saying a county government’s IT needs are complex and cannot be compared to those in a private company that focuses on a particular service. The county has more than 34 departments that are equivalent to “individual industries,” he said.

Councilwoman Sheila Saidman also questioned the rising expenses, describing it as “depressing.”

Griffith also took issue with the warning the county is “going to go black” if council does not grant the funding. The county has many other needs that may take priority over technology, he said.

“I don’t like that gun-to-the-head mentality,” Griffith said.

DiMauro said he is making the county aware of urgent needs and ramifications.

“This is not a threat,” he said.