Oklahoma City Names Dusty Borchardt Its New IT Director

Oklahoma City has affirmed Dusty Borchardt as its permanent information technology director, effective this week following a short tenure as interim.

Oklahoma City Manager Craig Freeman announced Borchardt’s selection Wednesday, nearly a month after W. Schad Meldrum’s retirement as IT director May 8. Meldrum had 25 years in public service. Borchardt will too this year, having joined Oklahoma City in 2000 as an engineering assistant in the Utilities Department according to the release. He rose through the IT ranks to become chief technology officer in 2019 and assistant IT director in 2024.

As director, Borchardt will oversee three divisions within the Information Technology Department (ITD) and 130 full-time staff. In his more than two decades at the city, the new CIO has helped advance digital transformation, and has overseen implementation and support for tech systems across multiple departments, per the release. He has a bachelor’s degree in network management from Southern Nazarene University.

“Dusty has been a valuable member of our team for 20 years, earning a reputation for being an excellent project manager and strategic thinker,” Freeman said in the release. “His dedication, passion and commitment will be assets in his new leadership role for the city.”

The Oklahoma capital has an estimated population of just more than 730,000, and nearly 5,100 municipal staff, according to the 2026 city budget, which the City Council adopted Tuesday. IT reports to the city manager’s office, and its functions include customer support, public safety support, and technology infrastructure, application support and enhancement.

“I’m excited to build on our momentum, strengthen partnerships across the organization, and leverage technology to make a meaningful impact on the services we provide to our community,” Borchardt said in a statement.

According to the proposed 2026 budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, long-term issues for the IT department are system security and data integrity, meeting the growing demand for technology, and maintaining advanced skill sets. ITD’s proposed budget is nearly $52.8 million, a decrease of nearly 5.5 percent, with rounding. It retains the FY2025 staffing level, however. The city’s operating budget for FY 2026 is $930 million.