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County switches IT service providers

A good part of last Thursday’s Fayette
County Board meeting was spent explaining
to board members the reason for switching
information technology service businesses,
and doing so at a higher cost.
The board approved an agreement with
Nathan Dothager of Dothager Independent
IT Consulting of Effingham after hearing
why Dothager was being recommended.
Assistant State’s Attorney Brenda Mathis
said that the change was being recommended
because, “Several department heads got
together because we were having some
major issues with our network.
“We are fastly moving to a tech society
where most of us are paper-free.
"The issues have compounded, (and)
we’ve also had some legal issues come up,”
Mathis said.
She said that the first thing that’s needed,
Mathis said, is to have the technology
wiring certified. “It’s an old building, we
don’t know if it’s ever been certified.”
Mathis said that Dothager will be paid
$90 an hour, $40 more than what was paid
to Kevin Arneston, the county’s previous
IT person.
“However,” Mathis said, “I believe the
level of service we will be getting is what
we need.”
County Clerk Vicky Conder told board
members that with Arneston, the county
had only “an agreement,” not a contract.
Mathis said that the county needs to
have an IT person available for “high
priority” matters, and that it has not been
receiving that.
Also, she said, Arneston was not
available during the day to address any
problems. “During the day, we’re on our
own.”
Mathis gave an example of a problem
when the county’s network has gone down
during the day.
“If there was no network, we could have
no court,” she said.
“There has been a complete breakdown
of communication,” Mathis said.
Also during the meeting, Marcia
Barringer, a 27-year employee of the Fayette
County Health Department spoke on the
board considering replacing the current
health coverage provider with The Hope
Trust.
Barringer said that some employees
“voiced concerns regarding the significant
reduction of coverage by The Hope Trust.
“It is not comparable to our current
policy in any way,” she said.
“I just want (the board) to realize, as
previously presented, that the coverage will
be drastically reduced by larger deductibles
and fewer prescription coverage,” Barringer
said.
She reminded the board that in the late
1990s, the county board went with a trust
for coverage, in order to get lower rates, and
that it decided to get out of the trust a few
years later due to “rapidly increasing rates.”
To get out of that trust, Barringer said,
“Fayette County paid a substantial penalty.
“My hope is just that you guys look at all
of the options,” she said.
Board Chairman Jeff Beckman said
that he has “a whole lot of questions that
the negotiations committee and health
insurance committee and our attorney who
is handling all of the negotiations have.
“Until these questions are answered, we
will not address anything else that has to

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