Actually, localities are as busy as state and federal governments when it comes to integrating IT with the business of governance; they are just a little more quiet going about it. That was one of the revelations to surface when two-dozen local-government CIOs met in May in Fort Worth, Texas, to deliberate on the challenges and opportunities of using technology in neighborhoods, on the streets, and in courthouses and city halls.
For the first time, local governments presented the highs and lows of what it's like to manage technology at the community level today. From small but sophisticated Milpitas, Calif. (population 50,000), to high-flying, fast-growing Phoenix (population 1 million), IT directors discussed how their localities are rolling out new applications, laying down information infrastructure, grappling with a host of management issues and experimenting with new technologies.
The group of local IT leaders met as part of the Public Technology Inc. (PTI) Urban Consortium Telecommunications and Information Task Force, which serves to assess new technologies, conduct research and advise PTI on ways to help local government with technology-related issues. Under the direction of current chair Michael DiPaolo, information systems and services director for Fort Worth, the task force has set itself a busy agenda of sharing information and helping localities strategically manage technology.
According to DiPaolo, the days when cities could naively ask vendors for a leading-edge technology that has been installed in at least five places and for at least five years are long gone. "We don't want to wait for the traditional local government approach anymore. We're trying to work beyond that, realizing that that's just not the case anymore," DiPaolo said.
New Directions
Proving that the form of government closest to taxpayers is sometimes the most responsive, task-force members showcased a long list of applications that are designed to meet taxpayer expectations as well as deliver efficiency. A notable example was the number of Internet projects intended to merge geographic information systems (GIS) with Web sites. Orange County, Fla., and Scottsdale, Ariz., have both opened up public access to their GIS through the Internet. Winston-Salem, N.C., and Oklahoma City, Okla., are pursuing similar projects.
Milpitas is about to start a pilot project to automate its permitting process -- from submission through inspection. Some of the technologies the city will use include the Internet, interactive voice response, GIS, and the city's financial system. Oklahoma City and Cincinnati/
Hamilton County, Ohio, are also developing fully integrated permitting systems. Other taxpayer-oriented applications in the works include a constituent tracking system (Oakland, Calif.) and integrated court management systems (Orange County, Fla., San Joaquin County, Calif.)
For years, local governments have been hearing the mantra that information is infrastructure. Now they are building the infrastructure to support it. A host of cities and counties reported hefty investments in fiber optics, ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) and frame relay communications lines. Scottsdale reported its local cable provider is rolling out high-speed Internet access to home subscribers. Cities are also investing big bucks in 800Mhz trunked radio for public safety, wireless-data and voice communications. Some jurisdictions are experimenting with public wireless networks, such as cellular digital packet data (CDPD), to lower public safety communications costs.
Besides showing they can build creative applications, local governments are also refuting the notion that they don't plan very well. Several jurisdictions, including Bellevue, Wash., and Oklahoma City, announced they were working on strategic plans or Internet strategic plans.
According to Dianah Neff, CIO for Bellevue, the city has been using the Internet primarily as a communications tool. "We haven't taken it to the next step," she said. "That will come once we get the strategic plan and funding mechanisms in place. We're looking to do some transactional processing and some more secure forms of communications using digital signatures. But first we have to gauge the level of interest and then figure out how to pay for developing all of this."
Y2K & IT Realities
As one technology director for a local government explained, for the first time in years, with the economy in such good shape, cities and counties finally have some elbow room to purchase and build applications that go beyond the day-to-day operations of local government. Unfortunately, the year-2000 bug threatens to slow down -- and even halt -- a number of new, state-of-the-art technology projects in local government.
Several cities reported delays in the startup of large-scale applications due to Y2K. Others mentioned how the fast-approaching deadline has led the private sector to pay any price for programmers, outbidding local governments and leaving the labor market dry. In Bellevue, RFPs for two multimillion-dollar projects have gone unanswered, in part because vendors have too much Y2K-related work to perform for other customers.
Some directors spoke about the need for beefing up internal control of Y2K projects, because, without it, you can't guarantee compliance. With the growing realization that Y2K failures are inevitable, the task force also urged local governments to protect against liability by demonstrating due diligence in trying to fix the millennium problem.
Recruitment, always a problem in government IT departments, has been exacerbated by Y2K and the hot economy. Programmers continue to choose to work in the private sector -- with its offers of signing bonuses, high salaries and stock options -- over the public sector. Some local jurisdictions have turned to contracting-out specialized positions. Others have put an emphasis on job retention, career training or even setting up internship programs. However, some positions have to be filled, and that means not being able to choose from the cream of the crop. It's a frustrating issue that continues to bedevil local governments, according to Bellevue's Neff and others.
Another challenge IT directors face is keeping up with the rapid pace of change in technology. "There are a tremendous number of options available to us today," said Kerry Wagnon, MIS director for Oklahoma City. "It has become a real challenge to absorb, understand and manage it all." Wagnon was almost nostalgic for the days when his department was the technology advocate for the city, constantly pushing city staff to use computers. Today, however, the users are constantly pushing Wagnon for more options and choices, making the work of his department that more difficult.
This growing awareness of technology is reflected in the increased efforts among local governments to realign their IT programs with government business needs. For example, Fort Worth's IT department is getting ready to operate as a business unit, no longer relying on pre-allocated funds for its budget but generating revenue based on the services it sells to fellow departments.
Another realignment trend is the growing number of IT directors moving up the organizational charts. While some larger jurisdictions have had IT directors reporting directly to city or county managers for some time, now small and midsize jurisdictions, such as Bellevue and Milpitas, are appointing their first CIOs.
"Finally, local governments have stopped calling us MIS managers, and we're starting to see directors move up in the organization," explained Neff. "We're also seeing governments understand how critical technology is to the organization to achieve their service goals."
For more information, call Michael Humphrey of Public Technology Inc. at 202/626-2432.
Harry Hammitt is editor/publisher
of Access Reports, a newsletter published in Lynchburg, Va., covering open government laws and information policy issues.
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