TO: HONORABLE MAYOR FROM: Jennifer A. Maguire
AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: February 4, 2022
SUBJECT: ADOPTION OF STATEMENT OF POLICY AND QUESTIONS FOR THE
PROSPECTIVE DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a Statement of Policy and City Council Questions related to the selection of a prospective Director of Information Technology as described in this memorandum, in compliance with City Charter Section 411.1.
OUTCOME
The results of this action will be City Council input to me regarding the selection of a Director of Information Technology, in compliance with City Charter provisions.
BACKGROUND
In compliance with City Charter Section 411.1, the City Council has adopted a process for City Council confirmation of Department Director appointments. The process requires that the City Council, prior to meeting with the City Manager’s recommended candidate for departmental head positions that are subject to the City Charter’s requirements, adopt a statement of policy for the involved department, along with proposed questions for the City Council to present to the City Manager’s recommended candidate for the appointment.
At my direction, staff is coordinating the nationwide recruitment efforts with the executive search firm, Koff and Associates. In the next two weeks, the Administration will conduct an interview process guided by the input provided by the City Council through its adoption of the attached policy and questions, as well as other stakeholder feedback. I will then present my recommended candidate for Director of Information Technology to the City Council for confirmation in a Closed Session meeting, along with the written answers to the questions adopted as part of this action. If the City Council confirms my recommended candidate, the appointment would be formally announced at that afternoon’s City Council meeting.
COUNCIL AGENDA:
FILE:
02/15/2022
22-146
ITEM: 3.4
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 4, 2022
Subject: Adoption of Statement of Policy/Questions for Prospective Director of Information Technology
ANALYSIS
The proposed Statement of Policy (Attachment 1) contains the broad goals, objectives, and aspirations for the department as reflected in the department’s mission, core services, performance measures, and resource allocation as approved by the City Council as part of the 2021-2022 Adopted Budget.
The proposed City Council Questions (Attachment 2) reflect those adopted for recent Department Director hiring processes, as well as ones specific to this recruitment. It should be noted that the development of the City Council questions reflect input with meetings the Administration held with individual City Council members, internal stakeholders, and department staff members regarding the knowledge, skills, and abilities desired of the next Director of Information Technology, as well as the challenges and opportunities facing the Information Technology Department. The City Council may modify, add, or subtract from this list of suggested questions at the February 15, 2022, City Council meeting and, of course, City Council members will be able to ask further questions of the recommended candidate during the Closed Session meeting.
EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
No additional follow-up with the City Council on the Statement of Policy and Questions for the prospective Director of Information Technology is expected at this time. My recommended candidate is currently expected to be brought forward for City Council confirmation at a Closed Session meeting in mid-March 2022, where further discussion will take place.
CLIMATE SMART SAN JOSE
The recommendation in this memorandum has no effect on Climate Smart San José energy, water, or mobility goals.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
This memorandum will be posted on the City’s website for the February 15, 2022, City Council agenda. In addition, the Administration convened discussions with stakeholders to gather feedback on the knowledge, skills, and abilities that should be considered for the selection of the Director of Information Technology, as well as an understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the Information Technology Department. Those stakeholders included City Council members, community members, and department employees.
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 4, 2022
Subject: Adoption of Statement of Policy/Questions for Prospective Director of Information Technology
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION/INPUT
No commission recommendation or input is associated with this action.
CEQA
Not a Project, File No. PP17-010, City Organizational and Administrative Activities resulting in no changes to the physical environment.
JENNIFER A. MAGUIRE
City Manager
For questions, please contact Rob Lloyd, Deputy City Manager, at (408) 535-3566.
Attachment 1: Statement of Policy- Information Technology Department Attachment 2: City Council Questions- Director of Information Technology
Attachment 1
STATEMENT OF POLICY
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Department Mission
San José puts powerful tools and information in the hands of people to unleash their brilliance in service to our community.
Department Core Services
1. Business Solutions
Deliver technology solutions that support superior municipal services and achieve the City of San José Smart City Vision; successfully achieve business goals; sustain and optimize the City’s technology portfolio; enable continuous innovation throughout the organization through civic technologies and partnerships.
2. San José 311
Serve as the City’s central customer contact resource for San José residents; provide City information and services to residents, businesses, utilities customers, and employees; support amazing customer experiences through open data, mobile application, online, chat, virtual agent, social, and public network platforms.
3. Technology Infrastructure and Operations
Support superior municipal services through reliable, high- performance, an d secure technology services; provide technology infrastructure for business solutions, analytics, data/voice/video communications; plan and coordinate services that sustain City operations.
4. Strategic Support
Responsible for the planning, execution, and management of technology resources.
Supports the City by providing portfolio- products-projects management, Digital Privacy, audit management, and technology fiscal, billing, budget, and personnel management services.
Department Performance Goals
Department performance goals are reflected in the Information Technology Department’s performance measures and its resource allocation in the 2021-2022 Adopted Budget.
The 2021-2023 Information Technology Strategic Plan
(https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/74445/637587601119570000 )
supports the City Roadmap and shapes the Information Technology Department’s annual work plan.
Attachment 2
CITY COUNCIL QUESTIONS
DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
1. Please describe your education, experience, and accomplishments, and explain how they have prepared you for this position.
2. The Statement of Policy for the department contains the broad goals, objectives, and aspirations for the Information Technology Department as reflected in the City Roadmap, Information Technology Strategic Plan, and 2021- 2022 Adopted Budget. Please explain, in general terms, how you would approach achieving these goals.
3. What are the most important challenges you see for San José ’s information technology direction and the Department over the next five years? Please describe your approach to addressing them, including what actions you would prioritize in your first 12 months.
4. This position requires that the Director of Information Technology navigate relationships with both internal and external stakeholders. Who do you see as the Department’s primary customers? Please describe an example of a significant project you have handled where multiple stakeholders were involved with competing or conflicting goals, and how you helped achieve a satisfactory resolution.
5. The success of the City of San José ’s City Roadmap requires managing technology to support needed outcomes across all City departments. Provide a strong past example of your leadership at scale in a complex organization. Include aspects of how you developed and sustained key relationships, managed priorities and change across groups, administered resources, ensured performance, and delivered on shared outcomes your organization defined as important.
6. Provide insight into how you have built and sustained strong teams. What are practices you use to hire, develop, actively coach and manage performance, and maintain a high service and high-performance culture? Share how you measure your success as a leader of people.
7. Describe any experience you have in deployment of technology in the area of public safety.
How can the Director of Information Technology support citywide initiatives such as Vision Zero?
8. Technology leaders can play a critical role as strategic and technical partners in designing, developing, and implementing solutions to address complex community challenges. As the City’s technology leader, what role do you play in advancing racial equity and in what ways can you support City Departments to enhance their ability to make informed decisions with an equity lens?
9. In the City organization, cybersecurity and digital privacy are integrated into technology strategic planning, annual work planning, and daily executive management. Th e Director of Information Technology’s ability to partner and share authority with both the City’s Chief Information Security Officer and Digital P rivacy Officer maximizes the impact of those disciplines in the City. How would you work with departments to balance their operational needs with the City’s cybersecurity and digital privacy risks? Attachment 2
10. What is your plan for maintaining good communication with the Mayor and City Council and the City Manager ? What is your approach to communicating well with department employees, customers, and peer City departments?
11. In a complex organization like the City, we have many competing priorities and not enough resources to accomplish all that our community, employees, and policy leaders desire.
Describe how you manage priority setting and manage expectations to achieve a clear work plan and quality, timely results. How have you used constraints to breed resourcefulness, novel approaches, and self-sufficiency?
12. What drives you to seek this position?
13. What else should the City Council know about you?