CITY OF MODESTO
for IT is security of these digital assets . “ We ' ve taken great strides to beef up our security of all of our protected critical assets here , which includes all of those smart city systems . So our twin focus has been to support the smart city strategic plan and to secure the information that we collect and store here , and utilise to the benefit of all the residents of Modesto .”
Conn comes in with an innovative mindset : “ We don ' t want to be getting our ideas from looking at other cities and thinking we ought to do that too . We want to be the city that every city in California wants to emulate . And we ' re well on our way to becoming exactly that entity , along with a couple of other cities that I could name . We ' re leading the charge !”
His job is made easier by the support of the community , and the positive attitude of his fellow executive directors , the City Council members , and the mayor . The sense of community is strong , a good illustration being that a sales tax increase recently passed without opposition , virtually unheard of in the present economic environment . “ The residents of our community see the value we ’ re already providing , and they want it to go to the next level . And so our support here is tremendous , and from that support comes the leverage to be able to implement these new and innovative programmes .”
With experience in both the public and private sectors , he appreciates the prudence with which his employers approach investment . “ There are a lot of checks and balances built into the process , on purpose to make sure that taxpayers ’ dollars are being spent wisely and on the right priorities . So where it might take three months to get a new programme implemented in the private sector , in the public those three months turn
178 February 2023