One ATS Information Technology Consolidation

Presented a petition signed by 807 city employees from 38 departments opposing the IT consolidation and calling for management accountability.

Distinguished between application rationalization, which saves money, and cramming human personnel together, which creates dangerous chaos.

An IT infrastructure engineer who warned that moving forward without safeguards is a risky tech-startup approach unsuited for public government.

A wildfire scientist with the Austin Fire Department warned that treating public safety IT staff as plug-and-play personnel threatens emergency readiness.

Raised cybersecurity concerns, arguing that a centralized network increases blast radius and lateral attack risks compared to segmented networks.

An IT manager over geospatial services explained that GIS is an applied operational discipline successfully supported by a 24-year-old multi-departmental operating board.

Questioned ATS's readiness to handle a massive reorganization given its current encumbrance ranking and past leadership controversies.

Read a statement from an anonymous ATS employee warning that ATS lacks the support staff and contract census to handle the influx of transferred workers.

An IT support analyst at Austin Public Library emphasized his dedication to library patrons and warned that removing IT from the library will diminish public services.

Read anonymous testimony from an ATS employee criticizing leadership for ignoring staff feedback and relying on costly consultants.

Distinguished between centralizing software licenses, which is good, and centralizing people, which destroys institutional knowledge for programs like Vision Zero.

Supported the city demographer's office and argued that federated IT models foster interdisciplinary collaboration better than centralized structures.

An IT supervisor with Austin Public Health highlighted how embedded health IT staff were critical during the pandemic and advocated for a federated model.

Highlighted that three consultants spent millions without proving staff centralization is safe or cost-effective, echoing audit concerns.

An engineer with Transportation Public Works defended the organic federated IT model and warned against top-down centralization.

Critiqued Gartner's benchmark data for including electric utility spending without proper comparables, skewing the justification for staff consolidation.

An assistant library manager criticized management for ignoring workforce feedback and pushing forward with an unvetted reorganization.

Argued that Gartner's reports are based on flawed data and that copying privatized city structures threatens public utility and service excellence.

Emphasized the importance of custom databases and staff collaboration in achieving Vision Zero safety goals, warning against centralizing transportation IT.

Argued that management's assurances contradict statements about eventual staffing reductions and called for common-sense governance and pause.

The AFSCME president thanked council members for addressing the issue, expressed willingness to compromise on oversight, and warned that liability rests on council if consolidation fails.