Benton Township has hired a firm out of Grand Rapids to help it weather a short-term technology emergency.
At a Tuesday meeting, the board of trustees authorized a contract with Hungerford Technologies to handle IT functions in the office following the abrupt resignation of the township’s IT person. Supervisor Cathy Yates tells us staff, including Treasurer Debbie Boothby, ran into issues shortly after the resignation.
“Debbie’s computer had nothing on it, and some other people are having problems with slow links and not getting all the applications they need to do their job,” Yates said.
So, trustees are now looking to hire a firm to take over IT, rather than have a person in-house. Yates says having an employee dedicated to tech just wasn’t efficient.
“When we had problems, he had to remote in at night and do different things differently. So we’re looking for people can function while we’re here.”
Hungerford will charge the township about $7,000 per month for IT services while trustees prepare a request for proposals to hire a company long-term. Yates said it could be Hungerford.
Also this week, trustees held off on approving an accounting services contract so further review could be possible. Yates said they’re just trying to meet the needs of residents in the most efficient and cost effective way possible.
