The IT director position, which officials posted June 22 and closed Wednesday, was listed with a $140,000 annual salary. Candidate reviews were set to begin in July. The person selected will be responsible for the strategic and operational direction of all municipal IT, IT staff, budgets and vendor relations while ensuring secure, efficient and compliant operations across departments.
The IT shop in this city of about 100,000 has a fiscal year 2026 budget of $3.2 million, according to the city’s budget documents, and has 10.5 full-time equivalent positions. Recent IT purchases have included Pure Storage hardware, maintenance and support; replacement laptops for the fire department; and a three-year enterprise agreement with Microsoft, according to City Council documents.
Cory Smith, now an IT consultant and business owner, served as IT director from August 2017 until June 5 of this year. According to local television station KWQC-TV, he was terminated for allegedly violating city administrative policy and insubordination. A city spokesperson did not respond to questions about the vacancy.
Documentation KWQC reported listed four alleged policy violations that led to Smith's termination, including accessing the city's Verkada camera system in March without a legitimate business purpose or permission.
According to city administrative policy effective July 1, 2018, supervisors seeking access to security camera footage for a business purpose must get written approval ahead of time from two people at the city, including the human resources director, corporate council or the city administrator or their designees.
The job search comes amid a recent recruitment for a city fire chief, and as City Administrator Douglas K. Maxeiner prepares to step down Oct. 1 for health reasons. Maxeiner intends, the city said July 25 in announcing his departure, to stay on for 11 weeks to finish hiring the new IT director and fire chief.
