FARMINGTON — Franklin County officials have hired a local man to be the new county information technology systems administrator.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to hire James Desjardins. He will be paid $50,000 a year in the newly created position.

Desjardins has dozens of years of experience and works for Oxford Networks, County Clerk Julie Magoon said.

Commissioners received seven applications for the position and three people were interviewed by a committee, she said.

When the county went with a computer-aided dispatch and record-keeping software program for the Sheriff’s Office and Communications Center in 2011, the database couldn’t be housed in Franklin County. Instead, it was housed in Somerset County.

A Somerset County technology team built infrastructure, including several servers, and share their services and expertise with Franklin County.

The plan now is to set up a server in Franklin County and move the software system, Magoon said.

Franklin County pays Somerset County more than $70,000 a year for information technology specialists and maintenance, she said. The contract with Somerset runs out in December.

Franklin County officials hope to do away with as many maintenance agreements as possible and eventually save money by having their own information technology administrator, she said.

Franklin County commissioners approved a proposed $169,354 technical services budget Wednesday. The proposed $5.8 million budget for 2015-16 next will go to the county’s Budget Advisory Committee.

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