Lorain to fix IT Department

City council approves restructuring of IT department, does not upgrade salaries

After months of computer problems slowing down work at Lorain’s city departments, Lorain City Coun- cil voted to approve restructuring the city’s Information Technology Department.

However, council balked at upgrading the salaries of IT workers who will take on more job duties — a move that prompted Lorain Auditor Ron Mantini to walk out of the Oct. 6 council meeting.

Mantini said he did not necessarily want to give up overseeing information technology in City Hall, but he would because the consolidated department will help the city. He added he has supported such a move since 2006.

“I’m just not happy with the outcome on the salaries,” Mantini said afterward. “I don’t know what it’s going to take for council to figure this out.”

Lorain City Council adopted two ordinances to eliminate the post of IT manager in the city Utilities Department and move the IT Department from the city Auditor’s Office to the city administration.

The switch will create a single, unified city IT Department overseen by the mayor. Up to now Lorain had an IT Department in the Auditor’s Office to oversee most municipal and police computers; Lorain Municipal Court and the Utilities Department each had their own directors managing the hardware and software needed in those departments.

Lorain City Councilmen were unanimous on the need to consolidate the computer staff, but they did not approve rearranging the salary scales of workers in the department as it shifts to the city administration.

In 16 comparable cities in Ohio, the IT director salary averaged $80,000, more than Lorain’s salary of $64,179 for the same post.

Mantini proposed a salary of

$75,346 for the IT director and salaries of $57,447 for the jobs of network administrator, now paid about $44,000, and IT specialist, which now pays about $39,000.

Councilman Brian Gates moved to amend the legislation to keep the salaries at the same pay grades and re-examine the issue when Council considers the city budget in the coming months.

He cited how other city departments have conducted surveys that show Lorain’s municipal workers in many cases earn less than employ- ees of other cities.

“In those cases the answer that came back was, it’s not what other cities could pay, it’s what Lorain could afford to pay, and that’s why I think ... changing the rates of pay should be held off until budget time,” Gates said.

“It’s not an issue of what they pay elsewhere, it should be an issue of what we as a city can afford to pay,” he said.

The amended legislation passed 9-1, but Council split on amending it to keep the current salaries.

Councilmen Dan Given, Dennis Flores, Joe Faga and Joshua Thornsberry all voted against an amendment to maintain the existing salaries instead of increasing them.

This year Lorain has spent at least $70,000 to resolve problems in the computerized records at Lorain Municipal Court, where data was not backed up from Feb. 28 to May 19, the day some computer hardware failed and records were wiped.

In the Utilities Department, IT Manager Troy Werner left the job, so the city administration hired a consultant to help maintain water and sewer billing. That firm’s first invoice was for $7,000, said Safety-Service Director Robert Fowler.

Werner also sued the city for unpaid overtime and the city settled the case for $40,000, Mantini said.