Over the past year, the city of Hermiston has been taking on a side gig – providing IT services to neighboring cities and organizations.
That side gig has grown to the point where the city had to create a new IT department to keep up with the service needs of its 10 customers.
Hermiston City Manager Byron Smith said the development of the IT department came out of necessity. Before that, the city contracted with the InterMountain Educational Services District (IMESD) which provided IT services to Hermiston and several other cities.
But early last year, the city was informed by the IMESD that its rates for IT services were going to drastically increase.
Smith said in order to get close to the level of service the city needed, the rate was going to be three times what it had been paying to the IMESD.
“I thought maybe we should start our own IT department,” Smith said.
The city began with a single employee in the IT department to service the city’s needs. But in conversations with other city managers, Smith learned that they, too, were being serviced by the IMESD and facing the same rate increases.
The city of Hermiston was able to reach an agreement in 2022 to provide IT services to Morrow County and the cities of Stanfield, Echo, Umatilla as well as Umatilla County Fire District #1.
That meant hiring more IT staff. The city managed to hire six former IMESD staffers to fill out Hermiston’s new IT department which currently operates out of the Carnegie Building on Gladys Avenue. Jordan Standley is the department’s director.
“You really can’t provide good service with one person,” Smith said. “You need to have a full staff.
Each contract varies depending on the level of need. Morrow County is the city’s biggest client while Echo is the smallest. The terms of the contract for each city are as follows with hours per week, monthly and annual payments to Hermiston:
- Morrow County: 5 days per week, $20,800 per month, $249,600 per year
- Umatilla: 32 hours per week, 16,600 per month, $199,200 per year
- Pendleton: 3 days per week, $12,500 per month, $150,000 per year
- Milton-Freewater: 16 hours per week, $8,256 per month, $92,072 per year
- Horizon Project: 14.5 hours per week, $7,440 per month, $89,280 per year
- Umatilla County Fire District #1: 1 day per week, $4,160 per month, $49,920 per year
- Oregon Trail Library District: 2 days per month, $1,920 per month, $23,040 per year
- Pilot Rock: 2 hours per week, $960 per month, $11,520 per year
- Stanfield: 1 day per month, $960 per month, $11,520 per year.
The city’s contract with Echo is unique, said Smith, in that there is no set hours per week. Instead, Hermiston provides IT services to Echo on an as-needed basis.
“If they need help, they call and we come out,” said Smith. The contract calls for Echo to pay the city of Hermiston $150 per hour as opposed to $120 per hour for those cities with an agreed upon number of hours.
Earlier this year, the city of Umatilla re-worked its contract with the city to increase the number of hours Hermiston provides IT services from 24 hours to 32 hours per week. Those hours will increase again in September to 40.
A city having its own IT department to provide service to other cities and organizations is not typical, Smith said.
“I think it’s pretty unique,” he said. “Keizer does it but on a much smaller scale.”
Smith is anticipating more IT business coming Hermiston’s way and Hermiston City Council approved money in the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget for a seventh IT employee.
“That person will be hired when we take on another client,” Smith said.
