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Record of Proceedings

Technology Committee Meeting Transcript Summary - October 21, 2025

Committee Meetings — Wednesday, October 22, 2025
BodyLake County, Illinois
SessionCommittee Meetings
DateWednesday, October 22, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 10:03

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0:12

All right, like to call to order the technology committee um at I don't know 11 35 a.m.

0:19

on October 21st, 2025.

0:22

I'm gonna dispense with the pledge.

0:24

Hello, everyone.

0:25

All right.

0:26

I'm gonna dispense with the pledge.

0:27

Could we have a roll call, please?

0:32

Member Altenberg?

0:33

Here.

0:34

Question Casmin?

0:35

Chair Clark.

0:36

Here.

0:37

Member Dan Ford?

0:38

Member Frank?

0:39

Here.

0:40

Member Peterson.

0:42

Member Roberts.

0:44

Terrific.

0:44

Thank you all for being here.

0:45

And we're good with you.

0:47

Is there any public comment?

0:48

There's that.

0:49

All right, Chair's remarks.

0:50

I'm uh excited to see everyone here today.

0:52

And uh that's it.

0:53

We have no unfinished business.

0:55

Our new business is the um item 8.1, which is committee action approving the recommended fiscal year 2026 budget for enterprise information technology.

1:05

Can I get a motion in a second, please?

1:06

Motion by Dan Forth, second by Altonberg.

1:09

This motion by what's it second by Peterson?

1:14

Terrific.

1:14

All right, CIO Blanding.

1:16

We see you are uh visiting us remotely using technology.

1:22

I am good morning, Chris Blanning CIO.

1:24

I appreciate the ability to return attend remotely.

1:27

I'm at an annual CIO conference I attend most years, and it just fell on this week.

1:32

So we're in good hands.

1:33

We have Terry Kath, uh deputy IT director, um representing in person.

1:38

So thanks, Terry.

1:40

I guess I'll turn it over to Nick at this point.

1:41

You're gonna start us off, Nick.

1:43

Thanks, Chris.

1:44

Just a brief uh introduction.

1:47

So the uh this budget can be found on page 86.

1:52

The FY 2026 recommended budget for enterprise IT totals 17,996,08, which is a decrease of 540,167 or approximately 3% from FY2025.

2:08

This change is primarily driven by a reduction in contractual spending within account 71125 staff augmentation following the completion of temporary support engagements tied to major technology efforts, including enterprise system implementations and enhanced cybersecurity controls.

2:27

With those engagements complete, the FY2026 budget returns to a more typical operating level and other contractual commodity and capital accounts remain stable.

2:37

With that, I'll hand it back over to Chris.

2:40

Thank you.

2:43

Thanks, Nick.

2:44

So uh just clearly uh wanna thank everybody involved, Nick, Mike Wheeler, uh, but specifically in IT, Terry Kath and Heidi Hernandez seems they've lived and breathed budgeting for the past several months, like a lot of people have.

2:57

But thank you to everybody to help push putting it together.

3:00

I'd also like to thank the county administrator's office, Patrice Sutton, and you, the county board for your continued support of technology at Lake County.

3:08

So this budget allows us to focus on sustaining our operations, um, focusing on excellence, which we do every day, and supporting our recent cybersecurity and infrastructure modernizations we put in uh over the past few years.

3:23

So a lot of our budget is software and applications line item, which goes to uh continued support of those operations and initiatives.

3:32

Um good news.

3:34

Our our budget for personnel.

3:36

We um started the year with a six percent vacancy rate, but we've been diligent on filling positions, and we actually achieved 100% uh fill rate uh in February.

3:46

So that's good news.

3:47

We're retaining folks, keeping them excited working and keeping them busy.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation█████████████████████████████████████████████77%
Fiscal Sustainability████████13%
Environmental Protection██████10%
Summary of Proceedings

Technology Committee Meeting Summary - October 21, 2025

The Technology Committee convened on October 21, 2025, to review and approve the Recommended Fiscal Year 2026 Budget for Enterprise Information Technology. The meeting featured presentations by CIO Chris Blanding and IT staff, followed by a Q&A session regarding budget composition, server infrastructure, sustainability goals, and device recycling. The committee unanimously approved the requested budget motion.

Consent Calendar

  • Budget Approval: The Committee moved to approve the Recommended Fiscal Year 2026 Budget for Enterprise Information Technology. The motion was made by Member Dan Ford and seconded by Member Peterson. The budget was adopted unanimously.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were presented during this session.

Discussion Items

  • FY 2026 Budget Overview: Assistant CIO Nick presented the budget totaling $17,996,08 (interpreted as $17,996,080 based on context), representing a decrease of $540,167 (approximately 3%) from FY 2025. This reduction is attributed to the conclusion of temporary staff augmentation contracts tied to major technology implementations.
  • Software and Online Services Increases: Member Dan Ford questioned the significant increase in the "software and online services" line item. CIO Blanding clarified that this was not related to the ERP system (Workday), which is prefunded by the County Administrator's office through 2026 and is not currently included in the EIT budget. The increase reflects ongoing operational support for existing software.
  • Server Infrastructure and Cloud Migration: Member Frank asked about the increase in server counts from 352 to 491. CIO Blanding explained this is a combination of virtualized environments and cloud servers rather than physical hardware additions. The increase is largely due to the consolidation of Health and Courts systems into the unified virtual server environment. CIO Blanding confirmed the department is actively moving away from on-prem physical servers.
  • Sustainability Metrics for Cloud Migration: Member Frank raised concerns about the sustainability impact of moving data to the cloud, specifically regarding carbon footprint and water usage metrics. While acknowledging that cloud providers operate at scale with efficiency, Blanding admitted specific data metrics for this transition were not immediately available but promised to follow up with the committee on research regarding sustainability measurements.
  • Device Refurbishment and Recycling: Member Frank inquired about the department's sustainability practices regarding end-of-life devices and potential donations to "PCs for People" under the Digital Growth Initiative. Blanding confirmed that devices are currently recycled but noted a policy challenge prevented donations to "PCs for People" at that time. Member Dan Ford and Member Frank agreed this was a topic requiring further conversation to explore alternatives to simple recycling for reuse.

Key Outcomes

  • Vote: The Recommended FY 2026 Budget for Enterprise IT ($17,996,080) was approved unanimously.
  • Directives:
    • The Technology Committee requested further research and reporting on sustainability metrics (carbon footprint, water usage) related to cloud migration.
    • The committee directed IT staff to undertake a further conversation regarding policies to facilitate device refurbishment and donation programs rather than solely recycling end-of-life hardware.
  • Next Steps: CIO Blanding will provide the requested sustainability data to the committee in the future.

Meeting Transcript

All right, like to call to order the technology committee um at I don't know 11 35 a.m. on October 21st, 2025. I'm gonna dispense with the pledge. Hello, everyone. All right. I'm gonna dispense with the pledge. Could we have a roll call, please? Member Altenberg? Here. Question Casmin? Chair Clark. Here. Member Dan Ford? Member Frank? Here. Member Peterson. Member Roberts. Terrific. Thank you all for being here. And we're good with you. Is there any public comment? There's that. All right, Chair's remarks. I'm uh excited to see everyone here today. And uh that's it. We have no unfinished business. Our new business is the um item 8.1, which is committee action approving the recommended fiscal year 2026 budget for enterprise information technology. Can I get a motion in a second, please? Motion by Dan Forth, second by Altonberg. This motion by what's it second by Peterson? Terrific. All right, CIO Blanding. We see you are uh visiting us remotely using technology. I am good morning, Chris Blanning CIO. I appreciate the ability to return attend remotely. I'm at an annual CIO conference I attend most years, and it just fell on this week. So we're in good hands. We have Terry Kath, uh deputy IT director, um representing in person. So thanks, Terry. I guess I'll turn it over to Nick at this point. You're gonna start us off, Nick. Thanks, Chris. Just a brief uh introduction. So the uh this budget can be found on page 86. The FY 2026 recommended budget for enterprise IT totals 17,996,08, which is a decrease of 540,167 or approximately 3% from FY2025. This change is primarily driven by a reduction in contractual spending within account 71125 staff augmentation following the completion of temporary support engagements tied to major technology efforts, including enterprise system implementations and enhanced cybersecurity controls. With those engagements complete, the FY2026 budget returns to a more typical operating level and other contractual commodity and capital accounts remain stable. With that, I'll hand it back over to Chris. Thank you. Thanks, Nick.

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