By AMY RICKER
Great Bend Post
The Barton County Board of Commissioners accepted the resignation of John Debes as the Director of Information Technology. Debes was hired as a Computer Programmer/Analyst in 1988 and has been with the county ever since.
Commissioner Jim Daily thanked Debes for all of his hard work for the county over the last 32 years before announcing his decision to retire effective Dec. 18, 2020.
“You were here when I became sheriff, and you have done an excellent job keeping things going as difficult of a task as it may have been over time. When I came here, you were a programmer as well as a repair person. That’s quite a daunting task within itself. Thanks for your service, John, we appreciate it,” stated Daily.
The Commissioners appointed Dereck Hollingshead as the new Information Technology Director for Barton County. Hollingshead was hired initially as the Network Administrator in February of 2018 and has been instrumental in improving technological efficiencies to allow for no-contact services during the pandemic. His new position will be effective on Dec. 21, 2020.