IMESD reshapes its IT department

By Terry Murry on Friday, May 26th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The InterMountain Education Service District is pulling back from providing internet technology services to government bodies and nonprofit organizations. Superintendent Mark Mulvihill said the increasing complexity in areas of fiber optics and cyber security coupled with a workforce shortage has caused the district to narrow its focus.

“We’ve kind of gone back to who we are,” he said. “We are the InterMountain Education Service District and we’re going to focus our IT efforts strictly on that and no longer provide those services for cities and counties.”

He said that they have worked with their customers to ensure they are not left high and dry due to the change. Many of them have already signed up with the city of Hermiston’s newly expanded IT department, which was begun due to the change at IMESD.

Mulvihill said the time was right, but there are some regrets.

“We’ll certainly miss the relationships we’ve created, like with the city of Pendleton, the city of La Grande,” he said. “But it was time to do it. It was time to focus on us and get better serving our districts and maximizing our workforce.”