NATCHEZ — Information Technology Director Eric Junkin may be the city’s go-to guy when a printer at City Hall goes down or the fire department’s phone system is on the fritz, but that is not all he has been up to since taking the job in March.

Junkin reported to the Natchez Board of Aldermen at its Tuesday meeting several initiatives he is seeking to implement in the city’s computer systems to streamline city operations.

One of the issues Junkin said he has been running into is that the city has no accurate and current master inventory of its technology equipment, which he said prevents the city from being able to accurately track expenses associated with the equipment.

A solution Junkin proposed to the aldermen is to add sub-accounts to existing accounts in the city’s accounting system. This, he said, would make the system more searchable and sort different equipment.

For example, Junkin said Wednesday, since department heads currently choose and purchase their own equipment with no oversight, the departments are operating on several different brands and models of equipments from different vendors.

Printers, Junkin said, are a good example.

“One guy might have a very similar printer to another guy, but in the system, one printer might be listed under contracts and one might be listed under leases, which is the way (the department heads) are doing their budget,” he said.

But having the printers and other equipment listed in several different locations makes it difficult for Junkin to get a handle on what equipment the city uses.

“I am trying to make the system more searchable, to generate reports that would allow you to look at things different ways,” he said. “So if I wanted to know how many and what kind of printers the city has, I would be able to search for that and pull it up on a list.”

“We’re working toward being able to track expenses and uncover things that might be different, so we can make them more uniform,” Junkin said.

Junkin has also asked the city’s department heads to make PDF copies of documents so they can be stored electronically on city servers. Junkin has set up several servers for the city. He said several donors have donated a lot of equipment, including about seven servers, to the city.

Junkin also said he wants to cut down on the city’s “manual processes,” meaning cutting down paperwork and instead storing and moving documents between departments electronically.

An example of that, Junkin said, would be having electronic copies of permits needing approval from the planning department sent to planning from the inspection department electronically or stored on a server, instead of someone seeking permit approval having to take the individual applications to planning.

The department heads, Junkin told the aldermen, have not yet taken full advantage of the city’s relatively new Springbrook accounting software.

“For instance, the fact that we’re not using the system for purchase orders yet means that we’re not adding inventory as we buy things,” Junkin said. “Until someone gets a user ID and tries to create a purchase order, they’re not going to know what the problems are.”