One of the graphics Newtown’s recently hired technology director Al Miles projected during a February 24 Board of Finance meeting illustrated why he was advocating for the quick hire of an additional full-time staffer for his department.

In the months before Mr Miles was hired to replace departing IT boss Scott Sharlow, the backlog of work began accumulating and overwhelming the remaining, single full-timer left on staff to support and maintain the 500 computer devices Newtown’s government and public safety departments depend upon.

At the same time, that industrious but outmatched staffer, Dennis Lawler, had to keep an eye on potential security threats, spam e-mail outbreaks, and a dozen other technology issues beyond the day-to-day functionality of all the town’s computer systems and networks (the school district has its own dedicated staff).

That backlog, as depicted in the graphic by Mr Miles, is so great that it will require nearly twice the amount of time for three full-time staffers to address than it would for those same three full-timers to simply address day-to-day needs in the department if no backlog existed.

Since Mr Miles was hired last fall, he told finance officials, his typical workday runs from 7 am to 10 pm. And with only one other staffer, virtually all weekend, holiday, and after hours emergencies fall on the IT director to handle.

As a result, he is requesting that officials support the hasty addition of another full-timer, which is proposed in the 2015-16 budget request at $55,000. Finance Director Robert Tait said that represents nearly all of the department’s requested $59,000 increase — with most of that the $4,000 difference being benefit costs.

Mr Miles told finance officials that most of the new hire’s responsibility will be to support and oversee public safety technology with the town’s Police and Emergency Communications Departments. He said the relatively recent addition of mobile data terminals (MDTs) in all the local police vehicles is creating an even greater demand for support from his IT office.

At the same time, he and Mr Lawler are handling all other town offices’ technical support, as well as strategic planning, maintaining IT infrastructure, and vendor management. The one current point of light for Mr Miles is the recent hiring to fill a long-vacant position supporting Newtown GIS or satellite mapping system, which is heavily used by the local police, fire, and ambulance volunteers, the Highway Department, Land Use Agency and other offices.

Using both existing global industry data and his own practical frontline experience since arriving on the job in town, Mr Miles has calculated that the IT department would need 6,297 hours per year of staff support. But for the typical 7.5 hour day, at an average of 240 days per year, each full-time staffer can only generate about 1,800 hours of work annually.

“Without the new person, we’ll continue to fall behind,” Mr Miles said. “We have an expansive amount of work.”

Finance board Vice Chairman Joe Kearney asked about what is not being done as a result of the short staffing. Mr Miles replied that, for example, it could take six months to complete the ordering, installation, and support of a single employee’s work station PC, and something as basic as an e-mail problem at a work station could take as long as two to three months to resolve.

He also said that on any day, as many as 25 to 30 percent of the town’s computer terminals could have some type of virus, spam, or malware infection, and each terminal takes about five hours to clean and restore.

First Selectman Pat Llodra, who was attending, said the backlog facing the IT department because of the lack of personnel is causing productivity losses.

Finance board member James Filan asked if the department could lean on vendors for more support. But Mr Miles responded that in most cases, that vendor support comes at a premium cost, and vendors lack knowledge of any related Newtown systems or protocols that could play a role in technical problems.

Mr Miles said that besides the day-to-day work supporting public safety systems, the new hire would also immediately go to work on special projects installing an automated work order system for the Public Works and Parks and Recreation Departments, as well as a planned electronic permitting system for the Building Department, Health District, and Land Use Agency.