One of California’s smaller counties by population, a longtime stalwart in the area of IT, made another strong showing in the Center for Digital Government’s* annual Digital Counties 2023 survey.
Northern California’s Nevada County, which is home to more than 102,000 residents, tied for fifth place in its population category in this year’s survey, among counties with up to 150,000 people. The year has been a momentous one for Nevada County; in April, Steve Monaghan, the longtime director of its Information and General Services Agency and county chief information officer, handed off the CIO aspect of his role to new CIO Landon Beard, a veteran county staffer.
The county’s work in IT over the past 12 months includes accomplishments in broadband, cybersecurity and disaster recovery. Its new 2023-2025 Information Systems Strategic Plan includes a recurring Stakeholder Voice section documenting service satisfaction metrics. An annual survey of customer IT satisfaction and value helps guide goals and the prioritization of IT resources in alignment with county supervisors. Nevada County’s new Business Relationship Management Team came online and is working with business partners to enhance collaboration. The local government has released several new modules in its digital NEOGOV platform, which tracks recruitment across the organization and sets performance goals and measures; and county human resources has gone paperless with employee files. An ongoing top priority is emergency preparedness.
The county Office of Emergency Services (OES) worked with GIS to create a field maps app that lets defensible space inspectors and the local Fire Safe Council make millions of dollars in defensible space services available to residents who are low income, elderly or disabled. The county sheriff, OES and GIS partnered with Ladris Technologies on an AI-driven evacuation route planner tool. OES and GIS also developed large-scale evacuation maps showing possible routes and developing difficulties. And in cybersecurity, officials refreshed the county’s cybersecurity awareness and training program for staff and contractors, with quarterly training and ongoing phishing testing.
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, parent company of Industry Insider — California.
This story first appeared in Government Technology magazine, Industry Insider — California’s sister publication.
