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GCN Home > 05/01/06 issue

Bridge builder

Leon County, Fla.’s Curtis gets players on the same page

By Michael Pelter, Special to GCN

Anyone who has worked in government knows it’s not easy to get city, county and local agencies to agree on anything. Patricia Curtis has made a career of it.

Curtis, director of management information systems for Leon County, Fla., has spent the past 13 years building bridges across agency and jurisdictional lines previously deemed impassable, as she oversees the county’s IT department in Tallahassee.

She’s brought together cities and counties, public defenders and prosecutors, and sheriffs and police by taking the time and devoting the attention needed to smooth over old rifts while giving all her clients what they need.

“Pat is fantastic,” said Kim Dressler, the county’s director of management services and Curtis’ supervisor. “Think of all the attributes you can to describe a good manager, and they would apply.”

Described by colleagues as diplomatic, supportive and tenacious, Curtis said any success she has achieved is due to a philosophy of consensus building, patience and the premise that information is meant to be easily shared among a wide range of users.

“Process improvements require a lot of interaction with people and convincing individuals to make changes for the good of all,” Curtis said. “That can be difficult, but I’m persistent. I’m a firm believer [in] eating the elephant one bite at a time.”

The next level

Curtis oversees a 60-employee department that provides IT support services not only to the county but to the circuit court and most other offices in the region, including those of the sheriff, public defender, state attorney, supervisor of elections, property appraiser and tax collector.

Along with their traditional day-to-day responsibilities, the department supports electronic tracking of criminal cases, emergency medical services and a regional network to track stolen goods. Meanwhile, MIS maintains an all-inclusive Web site recognized in 2003 for its excellence.

“She’s taken us to the next level since she’s been here,” said Michelle Taylor, an IT manager. “She’s really taken a proactive approach.”

A 1979 graduate of Florida International University in Miami, Curtis spent her early career in private business but in 1985 became a programmer and systems analyst for Mississippi, where she was introduced to geographical information systems.

In 1994, she took over GIS operations in Tallahassee, and immediately met her first challenge. Despite a cooperative agreement, city and county officials had failed to come together to produce a user-friendly GIS network.

With city officials ready to walk out and make their own system, Curtis did something unusual.

More news on related topics: Management, IT Management, State & Local



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