New Castle County improves national ranking for government information systems – now ranked 7th for counties under 1m by Center for Digital Government
July 20, 2021
NEW CASTLE, DE – Today, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer announced that New Castle County’s Information System team has been ranked #7 nationally among counties with population 500,000-999,999, up one spot from last years’ ranking.
The rankings were announced by the Center for Digital Government [govtech.com] (CDG) and the National Association of Counties(NACo) and broadcasted the results during the 19th annual Digital Counties virtual awards ceremony. The survey, conducted by CDG in partnership with NACo, identifies the best technology practices among U.S. counties, including initiatives that streamline delivery of government services, encourage open data, collaboration and shared services, enhance cybersecurity and contribute to disaster response and recovery efforts. The official announcement can be found HERE [govtech.com].
“We continue to win the future for New Castle County residents,” said County Executive Meyer. “In what was an extremely difficult year in the face of the pandemic, our IS team members stepped up to perform not only their regular duties, but also provided critical support in expanding operations for hundreds of County employees to stay online, do their jobs, and serve the people of our County.”
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak gave New Castle County, Del., a chance to build a path toward the future. As county employees worked remotely, they relied not only on a cloud-first posture that had already been put in place, but also protection provided by such technology firms as Proofpoint against malware, spear-phishing, and imposter scams. The county adopted a zero-trust system that will likely help to keep up security after the pandemic. Officials also transitioned to virtual public meetings.
Photo courtesy of New Castle County
“The challenge is to ensure New Castle County’s information technology is operational, 24-hour, seven days a week, 365 days and that our residents’ information is safe and our digital and physical infrastructure is secure,” said Michael Hojnicki, Chief of Technology and Administrative Services. “It’s an honor for our team to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to improving our technology infrastructure security and reliability.”
Over the past year, New Castle County IS also partnered with the Departments of Finance and Procurement to implement a new countywide financial management system and vendor portal. The Tyler Munis Financial Management System replaced a 20-year-old legacy system that proved too costly to maintain and was increasingly unreliable. The effort involved training over 200 workers from 16 departments while working remotely during the pandemic. The county aims to expand its use of cloud-hosted Software as a Service offerings to further reduce operating costs and to boost efficiencies and reliability.
Team members include: Judy Appleton-Roney, Sande Bowden, Robert Crisco, Vijay Danthuluri, Sidney Dixon, Brian Donovan, Jim Erisman, Kathleen Green, Jackie Griffin, George Hantzandreou, Michael Hojnicki, Sudah Jampana, Jason Lilley, Charles Lockwood, Sam Montgomery, James Madosky, Derek Patrick, Joshua Pedicone, Hayat Rabanni, George Read, Mark Schubert, Kamlesh Sheth, Stacey Sowers, Brad Stickels, Adrienne Thompson, Steve Weidner, Pete Wiggins, and Jon Yearly.
500,000 – 999,999 Population Category
1st Prince George’s County, MD
2nd DeKalb County, GA
3rd Snohomish County, WA
4th San Joaquin County, CA
5th County of San Mateo, CA
7th New Castle County, DE
8th Gwinnett County, GA
9th Polk County, FL
10th Cobb County, GA
About the Center for Digital Government
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on technology policy and best practices in state and local government. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.
About National Association of Counties
The National Association of Counties (NACo) strengthens America’s counties, including nearly 40,000 county elected officials and 3.6 million county employees. Founded in 1935, NACo unites county officials to advocate for county government priorities in federal policymaking; promote exemplary county policies and practices; nurture leadership skills and expand knowledge networks; optimize county and taxpayer resources and cost savings; and enrich the public’s understanding of county government.