Newly appointed Porter County Parks Superintendent Walter Lenckos probably had little idea of what was in store for him when he arrived for his first day. The parks department and the board who hired him may have warned him to always wear boots at Brincka-Cross Gardens on a rainy day. They may even have warned him he had exactly one month to figure the park department’s budget for next year due to the Porter County Council.

But there’s one thing they may not have warned him… tackling the entity known as the county computer system.

Lenckos knew technology would be an integral part of lifting his department into the twenty-first century, but also that he would be limited to the county’s current capabilities. But with vision for his goals and a little bit of patience, Lenckos will soon be able to see his aspirations come to fruition as he collaborates with the county Information Technologies and Services department on how to build a website that fits the department’s needs.

Lenckos is brainstorming a site that promises to be more interactive and informative. He hopes the site will be a place where site visitors can view maps to see where the parks are located, their contact information, and be able to register for events like the summer camp at Sunset Hill Farm County Park.

“I do think that technology is a way to move your organizational goals forward,” he said. “It’s an important piece for parks users who want to go for a hike at Sunset Hill or Dunn’s Bridge. We’ll have that information for them so it is clear depending on what their needs are. Our website should be a marketing tool for that.”

Another long-term goal is purchasing point-of-sale software so residents can pay for programs offered by the parks department with their credit cards. He said the department will have to overcome hurdles such as procuring hardware systems that can support the software and find someone who can maintain the software, which is not entirely an inexpensive process.

Lenckos said the achievements can emerge by finding a middle ground with county IT director Sharon Lippens. The next stop is the county commissioners and the county council to approve the software purchase.

From an outsider’s perspective, Lenckos complements the IT staff for their helpful attitude whenever the parks department needed a quick fix. When Lenckos arrived on the scene, the park webpage needed help with a broken link, but the IT staff recognized the data problem and in less than a day operations were back up.

But don’t break out the champagne quite yet. To the IT department, it’s just another day at the office.

“I don’t know if our challenges will ever be over. It’s just always a growing, evolving process,” said Lippens.

When it comes to computers, one can always expect a few little glitches here and there are just enough to raise tensions. Every so often at the county buildings, some hardware or software system will go on the fritz temporarily. There are more parties usually involved than just the IT department which can make it difficult to know who is ultimately responsible to keep the computer up and running.

Lippens explains her department is available to offer technical support. Routinely, the IT department will often check with other county IT departments on what software they use and research to judge if it can serve the needs of a county department and if the county has the hardware to support it.

A recent example was this spring when the county hired Atos Origin Inc. to refurbish the county’s tax website that allowed users to access their tax records for free with no limits. Lippens brought the system details to the commissioners after she found it had been successful in Allen County.

Porter County Commissioner John Evans, R-North, explains the county commissioners are the overseers of the IT department, which started out under the name data processing. While the IT staff handles the technical duties, it is ultimately the commissioners’ responsibility to approve contracts and take responsibility for how the systems operate.

The commissioners recently approved $359,000 in internet-based IP upgrades made to the county phone systems that have been since installed in nearly all the county buildings.

Evans said he believes the majority of county employees have favored the change that now includes voicemail options and caller ID. Some who were first skeptical “have said ‘this is the best thing ever’ once they learned how to use the new system,” he said.

“I don’t know how many projects that can be undertaken without a few little glitches but the truly finer ones are working out themselves,” Evans said. “Change always has a price.”

County Council member Marylyn Johns, D-4th, who serves as liaison to the IT department, said it is a department’s responsibility to notify the technicians if they are experiencing problems. If the issue is still not resolved, the department should report to its council liaison, she said.

For the first time, the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance this month granted Level II certification to the current software system being used in the auditor’s, the assessor’s, and the treasurer’s office. A compatibility test ran successfully and put Porter County in the fast lane to see consecutive years for on-time property tax bills.

It is a different story than what the county is used to hearing given the feuds that took place in 2007 and 2008 between county officials over the purchase of the Texas-based Hamer software. The commissioners and council last year agreed to replace Hamer with software vendor L. L. Low & Associates of South Bend for $332,000 after Hamer failed to meet the state’s certification standards by 2009.

County auditor James Kopp and assessor John Scott, who had been butting heads over the software issues, both said the recent certification has allowed the county to be way ahead of where it was last year and the future is looking up.

The offices have already begun rolling the assessed values which are due to the state by July 1.

“The state requires us to be interfaced,” said Kopp. “By and large, all systems are shining as they are supposed to be.”

Scott said the state has routinely asked that the systems interface with each other in recent years but the task has not been easy. The software will now allow the offices to look at data from years past.

Besides Low, the assessor’s office also includes XSoft software which is used to generate the assessor’s website for tax data. Scott said his office, not the county IT department, is responsible for making sure the software providers hold up their end of the bargain who in turn are responsible for complying with state standards. IT does assist with the assessor’s eCAM website and general set-up.

The IT department even pitched in last year in a collaborative effort to issue the delayed tax bills. Evans complemented Lippens and her department, saying if it wasn’t for them the tax bills would still not be out on time.

“They’ve done a bang-up job,” said Evans.

Just across the street from the county administration building, the courthouse offices are not leaping for joy with their current Jalan system, a product that was developed by the SunGard software vendor in the early 1990s. The system has not been updated since it went live in 2000 according to County Clerk Pamela Mishler Fish.

“It’s a DOS-based program, not a Windows program, so it takes a lot of time to navigate through,” she said.

Fish said the Jalan system is used in offices like the circuit court, the prosecutor’s office, the adult probation office and the juvenile center. “It’s just an old, outdated system and takes a very long time to conduct business,” she said. “We all know time is money.”

Lippens said the problem with finding an update for the Jalan system is that the state in the next three years will require all county court offices to use a statewide system. She said the county would be better off waiting until that happens because any software purchase now would require hours to train “a plethora of people” in addition to software costs.

The juvenile center is currently using an example of a state-mandated system called Quest to type court dockets. The system is automated and more “user-friendly” than the Jalan system, said juvenile center chief deputy Heather Kostelnik.

“Comparing the two (systems), it’s like day and night,” said Kostelnik.

She said the only problem she has seen with the Quest system is that it is set up primarily for paperless systems and the county is not able to use Quest at its full capacity.

Both Evans and Lippens agreed it is possible to give more creative control to the different departments who, like the parks department, want to make their web pages on the county site more interactive. Lippens said the idea of the county’s central website, www.porterco.org, is however to provide information.

Evans believed it is still important that there be a central IT department for the county if the departments are granted more leeway but said he would rather not see all the responsibility put on IT’s shoulders. He said the IT department does not have the equipment or hours to administer every site in the county.

“I think sometimes it can be a overpowering. I think (Sharon) is cautionary in going to people unless she is confident that that department or individuals are going to be able to keep up with what they’ve got,” said Evans.

County Council member Sylvia Graham, D-at large, said if departments want to have their own website, they would need to include the costs in their yearly budget and organize their set-up. She also said she would not be against the idea of having independent sites, but said it is important for all the county sites to link to each other.

“Every entity has to look out for itself, but they need to have links and interaction so that it is accessible for the people of Porter County,” said Graham.

Graham also said she would not be surprised if computer woes still persist as systems continually become outdated.

Lippens said the only way her department can help out is if a county entity lets her know they are getting the service they need. She said the biggest call she gets isn’t regarding the tax bills or software systems, but usually something minor like a faulty password or a copier issue.

Lippens said she is also pleased with the funding received from the county commissioners who are often willing to lend support.

Various department praised their county computer whizzes.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with Sharon in getting things cleaned up because there is a lot to do. Also, those in the auditor’s office who are in charge of the financial software have been real helpful any time I’ve need anything,” said Lenckos.

Kopp summed up that even though “burps” persist in the system, the skies are looking blue.

“I think that everybody is working well together. We’re all trying to get the job done and that is what really counts,” he said.

Posted 6/23/2010