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City of Akron Approves IT deal with County of Summit

A photo of Dan Horrigan.
TIM RUDELL
/
WKSU

Akron City Councilgave its approval Monday to buying IT services from Summit County--a week after the proposal was first submitted.  The delay was to allow some members a chance to more closely consider whether the plan might cede too much of a city function to the county.

Mayor Dan Horrigan, who proposed the deal, says he had some of the same concerns; but came to realize that control isn’t the issue, leveraging resources is.

“We’re not ceding control of our information.  We’re two government entities that share so much data every day anyway when it comes to law enforcement, when it comes to public service, when it comes to our engineering groups, why not help each other when it comes to things like help tickets, and similar licensees.  It’s thinking about things differently, but its not a conversation we should be afraid to have as a government entity about which way we’re going.”  

The Mayor says the ability to pay discount prices for services the County has in-house instead of using outside contractors will help trim operating cost for the city.