Costa Mesa hires IT director

Costa Mesa officials have hired a U.S. Air Force veteran with more than 20 years of information technology experience.

Information Technology Director Steve Ely was first brought to City Hall on an interim basis in November. His position was made permanent this week. He will receive an annual salary of $152,328.

Ely replaces Bobby Young, who left Costa Mesa last summer for a private-sector job. Young, who worked at City Hall for 13 years, was the city’s finance and information technology director. The positions have since been split in an effort to bring better expertise to each role.

After serving as a systems analyst specialist in the Air Force, Ely worked for Lockheed Martin and Xerox.

In Costa Mesa, Ely has helped install a computer-aided dispatch and records management system for the police and fire departments. He also worked on replacing more than 400 computers and software in city facilities.

“With technology [becoming] an increasingly critical part of the city’s operation, we are pleased to have someone with Steve’s experience and professionalism on board,” city CEO Tom Hatch said in a prepared statement. “His expertise and innovative thinking have already proven invaluable to our organization as we strive to take full advantage of today’s technology.”

—Bradley Zint

Twitter: @bradleyzint