Deputy City Manager Tony St. Romaine will serve as interim director for the City's Information Technology Department.  He will oversee the department and the search for a permanent director to replace Bob Simms, who resigned September 27.   

St. Romaine is revising the I.T. director job description, qualifications and duties. He expects to begin advertising for the permanent position within the next two weeks. St. Romaine's goal is to have a new director in place by the end of February 2013.

St. Romaine said that he has met with all I.T. supervisors and will meet with all I.T. employees individually over the next few days. "We are fortunate to have a talented group of professionals in our I.T. Department. These meetings are an opportunity to discuss each team member's strengths, ideas, current workload and key priorities," said St. Romaine. 

St. Romaine said the department has "a considerable amount of work to be accomplished in the next year, including many projects that will involve replacement of existing software and hardware systems."  Major projects include the Columbia Financial Enterprise Resource Planning System, which manages core financial and service functions, Public Safety Records Management and CAD, Parking Violations software and Public WiFi for City facilities