Notes from the IT desk of a small city hall.
Running IT for local government means the help desk, the network, dispatch, the council chamber AV and the public records request about all of it. These are lessons from more than 20 years of doing that work for counties and cities, written for the people doing it somewhere else.
Latest entries
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CH-0005
Throwback Thursday: how I got into tech
A Packard Bell, a dial-up shortcut, two family computers lost to viruses, and a Windows 2000 server in a dorm room. How a would-be architect ended up in IT.
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CH-0004
Upgrading SALTO Space to 6.14.3, the boring way
After a messy server migration, the SALTO Space version upgrade went by the book. The steps, the two installer prompts, and what changed in 6.14.3.
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CH-0003
Moving SALTO Space to a new server, and the port that wouldn't let go
Moving our door access server to Windows Server 2025 with the database left in place: no official guide, a stale URL reservation and a firewall surprise.
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CH-0002
How I scrub a story before it goes up
The checklist I run on every post so a real incident can be shared without exposing the city, its people or its network: delay, generalize, redact, strip.
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CH-0001
Why I'm writing about city hall IT
Public sector IT has its own rules: public records, council votes, fiscal years and residents who can't wait. What this blog covers, and why it's anonymous.