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Open Letter to Marion City Council & Officials: The Time for IT Oversight Is NowReading Mode

Written by marion-watch

The below letter was emailed to all sitting members of Marion City Council and Mayor Collins today. Relevant articles can be found in the “Relevant Articles” section following the letter contents.


To the Current Members of Marion City Council:

The financial and technical stability of Marion is a structural necessity, not a partisan debate. You face a choice: permit the “Silent Sabotage” to continue, or secure IT infrastructure immediately.

We call for the immediate re-establishment of the IT Oversight Committee, and suggest it be chaired by Councilman Ralph Smith. A Vietnam Veteran of the U.S. Army 34 Delta (Data Processing Equipment Maintenance) with high-level security clearance, Smith was trusted to secure critical networks in volatile environments. Smith also has experience as a business owner with IT focus.

While technology has changed since his service, and business ownership, the principles of security and protocol have not—and they are dangerously absent in Marion, as evidenced by our reporting, and reviewed by many in Ohio and beyond.IT infrastructure is the modern city’s vault door. Councilman Smith possesses the discipline and courage to ensure that door is locked properly.

We urge the Council to reactivate the committee and confirm his appointment immediately.

Public Oversight Means Public Help

This committee is more than an internal checkpoint; it is a bridge between City Hall and the community. It must not resemble the dormant committee of the past—it must be fully authorized, active, and empowered.

By bringing technical discussions into the open, you enable citizens—especially those of us who are Information Technology professionals—to serve as an early warning system. 

We are ready, willing, and honored to do so.

When technical reports are transparent, independent experts listening to Council meetings can identify issues that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

We can “blow the trumpet” when something is wrong.

Citizens, including the team at Marion Watch Investigates, stand ready to assist. But we cannot help you fix what remains hidden. 

Transparency is the prerequisite for rapid correction.

Without it, we risk repeating the same failures—failures that, when exposed, are too often dismissed as conspiracy theories or attempts to discredit officials and citizens.

Had the former committee been empowered when it existed, the costly issues with the New World software we began investigating around 2016 with revelations of theft (following rumors of password sharing and other grave failures of IT governance first brought to our attention around 2010) might have been heard and addressed before they spiraled.

If You Have Nothing to Hide, You Have Nothing to Fear

As we witnessed at the December 22nd Council meeting, some elected officials continue to resist oversight, framing it as micromanagement or unnecessary bureaucracy. 

But in Information Technology—where a single unchecked configuration can drain a budget—oversight is not “red tape.” This is now proven with the revelation of software safety controls being misconfigured one example being the GL override setting. A setting mentioned to several council members, including Mr. Smith, by Marion Watch, months prior to the official revelation.

It is the firewall that protects the system.

The principle is simple: those who are following the law and adhering to globally recognized IT best practices should welcome oversight. 

A properly functioning department has nothing to fear from validation.

Resistance to this committee suggests only one thing: that broken processes or concealed failures remain. 

Our reports on the city’s financial controls and the New World software issues make this painfully clear.

The Experts Agree: Marion Is Vulnerable Without Oversight

This call for oversight is not coming from a lone critic. 

It reflects the consensus of professionals who understand how these systems operate.

Many IT experts—including those within Council’s own ranks, specialists observing from outside Ohio, and myself as a Systems Administrator with more than 20 years of experience—strongly urge you to reinstate this committee.

When we examine the volume and severity of issues within Marion’s IT infrastructure, we do not see “glitches.”

  • We see a lack of governance.
  • We see a lack of expertise.
  • We see a blatant disregard for global information technology control standards that protect both finances and citizens.
  • We see qualified citizens being dismissed by those who have allowed these issues to fester since at least 2009/2010.

We see a system allowed to drift into failure because no one with the authority and technical knowledge was empowered to ask the hard questions. 

These failures festered in secrecy. 

Oversight and transparency are a major antidote.

Protecting the Future

The collapse of the New World ERP system,and concealment of its flaws, proved that Marion cannot rely on the honor system.

We witnessed a platform misconfigured to allow unlimited spending, dependent on secret workarounds, riddled with unauthorized administrative access, plagued by password sharing, granting access to individuals with no business need, and incapable of flagging theft for years.

That is not an accident.


That is a governance failure.
This is an expertise failure.
This is unacceptable in the IT sector. 

A fully empowered IT Oversight Committee is the only mechanism that can ensure:

  • Software is configured to legal and professional standards—not merely “made to work.”
  • Security protocols are active and enforced—not just promised.
  • Incoming administrations are not handed broken tools and hidden liabilities.
  • System permissions are appropriate, justified, and tied to legitimate business needs.

The Bottom Line

Reinstating this committee is about protection, not punishment.

  • It protects taxpayers from waste.
  • It protects Council from being blindsided by another preventable disaster.
  • And it protects the city’s future by ensuring our systems meet global industry standards.

Any expert with access to the information we have reported—and some findings not yet released—would reach the same conclusion. 

The evidence of past failure is overwhelming.

The public is ready to help.


The question now is whether the Council is willing to turn on the lights.
Marionwatch.com Investigates 

Relevant Articles (Click Here)

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