By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
Writer’s note: This is the fourth in our series of stories about people who work “behind the scenes” to help Minnehaha County operate.
SIOUX FALLS – Two weeks ago, Minnehaha County Information Technology Director Monte Watembach was excited when a partnership with GovTech Services came online to give local property owners the ability to pay their taxes remotely.
While most county residents (who pay property taxes through escrow accounts at their banks) paid no notice to this, Watembach had been working “behind the scenes” for the past five months to see that this became a reality.
Instead of running down to the county administration building at 11:59 p.m. on the last day of April or October to drop off that property tax check, Watembach and his staff of 12 have helped usher Minnehaha County into the 21st Century by working with GovTech to create a system, like so many other businesses, that let taxpayers make payments via the Internet.
With this system, local residents can pay individual property taxes, or a large business can pay taxes on multiple properties all at the same time.
Although this is a huge benefit to county residents and is certainly newsworthy, working with an outside service provider on software and systems is not what the Minnehaha County IT Department usually does, according to Watembach.
As part of its function, the IT department will develop applications of its own to be used specifically by the county’s various departments.
“We’ve developed applications for multiple departments,” Watembach said, “which can be especially rewarding and a lot of fun!”
He explained that much of what the county had been using, and to some extent still uses, is what he refers to as “legacy-based software.”
This computer software may have been purchased or developed years in the past.
“It is stable and reliable, but not the most functional,” Watembach said.
He described it as older software that people have gotten comfortable with over years of use, but the legacy-based software is not something that has kept up with improvements in computers and other software.
Watembach described this type of older software as being “keyboard driven,” while newer “intuitive software” is for more mouse-driven and graphical users.
“We have a mix of employees around the county,” he explained. “Some have been using the legacy software for decades, but it is harder for new employees to be able to use the older applications."
In recent months, the Minnehaha County Commissioners have had discussions about certain departments needing to train people in different areas, as older employees retire.
And Watembach sees the problems with those newer employees having to learn older systems – especially when computers may not exist that can support those systems.
“There has been a generation working with the older applications,” he explained. “And it will be really difficult when they retire.”
But that, again, is where the county IT department comes in, as they develop their own intuitive-based applications which are friendlier to new employees.
“The intuitive software is designed so users can figure it out, and it is easy to use,” he said.
While Watembach has a business degree from the University of South Dakota, he credits “on the job training” as giving him the skills he has today.
After graduation, he went to work for Gateway Computers in Sioux Falls, and it was in the private sector that he learned all about computers and software.
Around 2002, Watembach moved into the public sector as a data center support person for the city of Sioux Falls. But in December of 2010 he got to head up his own department as the IT Director for Minnehaha County.
And he says that he likes that.
“Being in charge lets me create my own vision and see it through.”
He explains that working IT means he is in charge of tech for “12 or so different companies” or departments that make up the county.
He and his staff do projects for those departments at different times, but he can’t say that he spends more time with any one department over the others.
“That all depends on the projects, but after we get new software in place, there is not so much interaction (with those departments),” Watembach said.
Ideally, he would like to see all county departments migrate off legacy applications, but he says he does have to be sensitive to the current employees.
“The older software has been consistent. It works. It is reliable, but it won’t be able to serve long-term.”
However, he feels that the county is fortunate in that they are making good progress in completing needed changes.
One big step they are making toward the future is planning for a new Metro Communications Center.
Again, this is another area that commissioners, as well as those with the city of Sioux Falls, have been looking at for some time.
At their last meeting, county commissioners accepted a rental agreement to house Metro Communications for 2020, but space constraints in the Public Safety building are making that more difficult.
Watembach said that from what he knows so far, land for the new center is being planned for the northeastern edge of the city, and the current facilities will serve as a “back-up” communications center.
But whatever project comes along, members of the Minnehaha County IT Department led by Monte Watembach will, no doubt, be working “behind the scenes” with purchased software or developing their own to help the county be more organized and efficient.
