Tampabay: County prods its tech official

Now, some of those same officials say the plan isn't moving fast enough. They're putting more pressure on the county's Information Technology Department and its director, Alfred J. Leiser.

Their frustrations come as the department faces another controversy. A poorly developed computer program failed to send more than 50,000 traffic convictions to state driver's license officials. Lack of communication between the clerk's office and the IT department allowed the problem to fester for three years after it was discovered.

Leiser's leadership has fallen short, and his performance has been "lackluster," said Tax Collector Diane Nelson, chairman of the county's seven-member information technology board.

County Administrator Steve Spratt, a member of the technology board, said his expectations from the department "aren't being met."

Another board member, County Commissioner Ken Welch, said Leiser needs to take more initiative.

"I'm looking for leadership and vision in the CIO (chief information officer) in the same way I get that from Steve Spratt, the administrator," Welch said. "I'm looking for innovation as well."

But Leiser said some board members don't appreciate the obstacles his department faces.

His department provides services for all county agencies, from departments supervised by the administrator to the courts and other constitutional offices. The department is pulled in many different directions, Leiser said.

"I'm a service bureau," he said. "I respond to requests from customers."

The department has few technicians to respond to the many trouble-shooting and other requests, Leiser said, and some departments disagree about how the county should improve its technology.

Some of the board's frustrations boiled over at a meeting last week, when Leiser was due to present a preliminary schedule for moving county projects into the $12-million database system, Oracle. Leiser's suggestions included doing a survey and inventory of county technology. Board members said he needs to focus on quick change.

"We don't need to micro-analyze," Spratt said. "We don't need to do paralysis analysis."

Nelson said she was disappointed.

"This much time has gone by and nothing much is happening," she said.

Leiser said he's already working on the board's recommendations and that he looks forward to clearing the air.

"I hope they see there's more to moving this mountain than buying a couple of bulldozers," he said.

Board members are supposed to turn in evaluations of Leiser to Nelson today. A fourth board member, Clerk of Circuit Court Karleen DeBlaker, would not discuss Leiser's performance Wednesday.

The IT department shares blame for the traffic ticket problem, DeBlaker said. But she also said some of the county's troubles in moving to a more unified technology come not from IT, but from a reluctance by county officials to change, or failure to cooperate with each other.

Another board member, David A. Demers, chief judge of the Circuit Court, thinks there needs to be improvement. The two other board members are Sheriff Everett Rice, who could not be reached for comment, and Commission Chairman Barbara Sheen Todd, who did not return calls seeking comment.

Leiser, 62, has worked for the county since 1986. He makes about $110,000 a year. At his last evaluation, in September 2001, board members gave him a 5 percent raise and a 2.1, or "good," rating out of a possible four points.

But this will be the most detailed evaluation in several years. Board members have made other changes as well. Some board members, even DeBlaker, who has been on the board for several years, said the board hasn't been active enough in the past.

"The board has always been -- I don't know -- placid or something," she said. "I don't think officials (on the board) give it the attention. It's not what they were elected to do. It's not their primary duty."

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