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More than two dozen Dallas County IT employees laid off

Dallas County named Justine Tran Chief Information Officer Dec. 10, 2024. She will lead the information technology department.
Dallas County
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Dallas County
Justine Tran, Dallas County Chief Information Officer, laid off 31 employees.
Tran was named CIO Dec. 10, 2024 and leads the information technology department.

Dallas County has laid off more than two dozen people from its IT department.
 
The changes come months after technology and fiscal year budget discussions.
 
A total 49 positions were eliminated and 31 people actually lost their jobs Sept. 3.
Laid off employees were told they could apply for 52 new and 40 reclassified technology positions.

Those let go were paid through Oct. 2, county administrators said.

While the eliminated positions save Dallas County about $8 million, the decision was based on changing technology, not cost savings, officials said.

Some of the new and reclassified jobs are Artificial Intelligence-based, but software development also contributed to the department restructuring, said continuous improvement committee chair Andy Sommerman.

County IT department changes come about two years after a consulting firm recommended hiring a chief information officer.

The Gardner report also suggested modernizing software and jobs.

Got a tip? Email Marina Trahan Martinez at mmartinez@kera.org. You can follow Marina at @HisGirlHildy.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.

Marina Trahan Martinez is KERA's Dallas County government accountability reporter. She's a veteran journalist who has worked in the Dallas area for many years. Prior to coming to KERA, she was on The Dallas Morning News Watchdog investigative and accountability team with Dave Lieber. She has written for The New York Times since 2001, following the 9/11 attacks. Many of her stories for The Times focused on social justice and law enforcement, including Botham Jean's murder by a Dallas police officer and her subsequent trial, Atatiana Jefferson's shooting death by a Fort Worth police officer, and protests following George Floyd's murder. Marina was part of The News team that a Pulitzer finalist for coverage of the deadly ambush of Dallas police officers in 2016.