MONTICELLO – Reflecting on his summer internship with Sullivan County’s Information Technology Services (ITS) during the Management and Budget Committee on July 16, Noah Edwards said that he was surprised by the sluggish pace of government work.

“Coming in, I had an expectation that it would be similar to my private sector internship that I had previous to this,” said Edwards, a cybersecurity student at Messiah University entering into his senior year.  “I was proven wrong; I learned that the government program works slower than private sector, and it’s not a bad thing!”

“It’s the first time anybody ever heard that government works slower than private,” quipped District 3 Legislator Brian McPhillips.

Edwards continued: “It’s something that I’ve actually grown to really appreciate because the reasoning, especially in the security field, is that there’s a lot more double-checking that goes into it—verification, validation.” He said the data they handled in the ITS department was more secure than in the private sector, where the main focus is on generating profits.

Edwards, who was raised on a retired dairy farm in Neversink and graduated from Tri-Valley in 2024, expressed gratitude for all the connections he made with the ITS team “who are all incredible despite being short-staffed. You can tell they work really hard and it’s definitely an honor, so thank you.”

The end of his short tenure was bittersweet for ITS Commissioner Lorne Green, who expressed concern that his department was understaffed despite meeting ever-increasing demands.

Green said Edwards was exactly the type of employee the county should actively recruit and retain, a difficult feat when even public sector opportunities at the state level pay significantly higher salaries than what the county offers, he said.

“As of July 31,” said Green, “I’m losing another staff member to retirement. As of the end of the month, I’ll have three vacancies out of 17 total positions. That’s less positions than I had when I took over in 2006. The demands are way higher than they ever used to be, but we’re struggling to keep on top of all of it because of the fact that it’s very difficult to hire people.”

When McPhillips asked if the recent ITS department restructuring was a mistake, Green assured him that it was not. McPhillips was referring to a resolution that passed in October 2025 which abolished three positions and created three new positions to the tune of approximately $199,000 in savings for the county.

“The appropriate decisions were made,” responded Green. “The problem is that we can’t attract candidates because our salary levels are below industry standards for the positions that we have.”

Green recalled one talented employee that left his department last year to work for New York State in a lower position with less responsibility that paid 60% more than what he earned working for Sullivan County.

“When we interviewed Noah,” said Green, “one of the questions we ask is ‘where do they want to be in the next five years?’” Green was impressed that Edwards expressed the desire to return to Sullivan County if an employment opportunity arose.

Several legislators were interested in having Edwards come back to work for the county, including District 7 Legislator Joseph Perrello, who said to Green, “If you’re impressed with him, then you should insist that he comes back.”

Green responded, “Individuals like Noah…that’s the future of this county; those who are going to replace your seats, my seat; so we need to figure out how to foster and retain [them].”