As part of Techwire’s ongoing efforts to educate readers on state agencies, their IT plans and initiatives, here’s the latest in our periodic series of interviews with departmental IT leaders.
Veteran municipal staffer Avery Maglinti is IT manager for the city of Newport Beach, a position he has occupied since the start of 2022. At Newport Beach, IT is a division of the city manager’s office; the IT manager runs that division and reports to the assistant city manager. Maglinti’s career with the coastal Orange County city spans 21 years, including 14 years as IT analyst, nearly three years as senior IT analyst, and more than four years as IT applications supervisor.
A native of Hawaii, Maglinti holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Techwire: As IT manager of your organization, how do you describe your role; and how have the role and responsibilities of the IT manager changed in recent years?
Maglinti: I think the biggest part I get to play is being this facilitator and relationship builder between the departments and business units at the city and then facilitate those conversations; or make sure that one department’s goals can maybe be leveraged to another department, where they may not necessarily see that connection as far as technology is concerned. In terms of the changes, I think it’s exactly that. Before, I feel like IT was kind of this group of people that were just in some basement making sure that email was working, and the PCs were working, and then you took care of that. But it has morphed into this group of people that help everybody meet their business goals and are embedded within the business unit itself to make sure they can accomplish what they need to. ... I’ve definitely seen us go through that transition; our software systems have probably quadrupled from when I started here. The same with the devices. Everybody, pretty much, needs some piece of technology to do their jobs now.
Techwire: How big a role do you personally play in writing your organization’s strategic plan?
Maglinti: We, I would say, are more like indirect in terms of advisers. What we try to do ... from an IT governance perspective, is embed ourselves in each department and then advise them (as) they’re ... setting the overall strategic objective for the organization.
Techwire: What big initiatives or projects are coming up? What sorts of RFPs should we be watching for in the next six to 12 months?
Maglinti: I think our biggest, obviously, is security, which is on the radar for everybody with everything from tools to staff training, IT staff training even. We are looking at refurbishing a lot of our conference rooms, the (audio-visual) AV equipment in there, teleconferencing, adding some teleconferencing to some of those rooms. And then, from the software side of things, I think we’re going to look at part-time staff scheduling, how we can more efficiently manage some staff. We currently have an RFP out for water utilization outreach to the public in terms of what their water consumption is from the utility billing side of things, so they can log in and see their hourly water usage.
Editor’s note: The city is currently implementing so-called “smart” water meters and will likely have that project completed by the end of summer.
Techwire: What term or phrase do you use to refer to what many call “digital transformation?” How far along is your organization in that process and how will you know when it’s finished?
Maglinti: I don’t know if this is a phrase but it’s ... something that I tell myself continually ... what I call it to myself is this agile alignment, where you’re just constantly trying to realign what the business needs matched against any technology developments that are out there. And continually make sure that you are lined up with the objective of what a department or a business unit is trying to ... achieve. I don’t think that it’s something — and this is my personal opinion — that is ever going to be done. I think it will just be this iterative ... alignment where you found something better, now’s the time to implement that, let’s change it over, maybe you can engage more people in your organization or consolidate some software to meet multiple objectives at the same time and ... continually be looking at it that way.
Techwire: Are there particular areas where more alignment may be needed from an IT perspective?
Maglinti: I think making sure that everybody is aware that security is an organizational concern and that every individual player in the city is ... aligned with keeping us secure. It’s not just IT’s job; it’s not that individual person’s job that clicked on that phishing link, but it’s a collective set of eyes that are making sure that security is taken care of, with that human firewall, I guess they call it.
Techwire: What is your estimated IT budget and how many employees do you have? What is the overall budget?
Maglinti: Our IT budget is about $5.3 million a year. We have 16 IT staff.
Techwire: How do you prefer to be contacted by vendors, including via social media such as LinkedIn? How might vendors best educate themselves before meeting with you?
Maglinti: For me, I am good with an email, kind of an introduction email, so that I can do some research ahead of time. I’ll just see where we line up in terms of the offerings of the vendor and our long-term strategic goals for IT or even the organization, see where that lines up. And in terms of research, I just like a good old-fashioned conversation, where we can lay out our ... objectives, maybe what we have on our road map of what we’re trying to accomplish, and see where that lines up or where our particular vendor could help.
Techwire: In your tenure in this position, which project or achievement are you most proud of?
Maglinti: I think for me, the thing that I’m most proud of is watching a team of people be able to pivot and get creative during COVID-19. It was just one of these things that everybody needed to deal with at the same time; it had personal ramifications in terms of your personal life, and then obviously your work life was upended. Especially for IT, coming up with new solutions ... not knowing what’s going on, I watched our IT team just adjust and roll with it and then adjust again as they needed to, as things opened and closed. I was really proud to be a part of a team that just pulled together and made everything happen that needed to happen.
Techwire: If you could change one thing about IT procurement, what would it be?
Maglinti: I actually — I love this one. I think ... the process works. I think for us, the way that we have it set up is that we look at getting a wide variety of vendor solutions that we can pick from, or pick the most efficient solution in general. It works in terms of even vendors reaching out to you and letting you know what they’re providing. I find all of that really interesting when people pitch you cold. We typically are just looking at things through our own lens, and sometimes, somebody brings something to the table that you never thought about, that kind of gets you thinking and maybe you can’t do it this year but next year down the road it’s a little tickler in your brain that this is possible.
Techwire: What do you read to stay abreast of developments in the gov tech/SLED sector?
Maglinti: I read Government Technology* and then, I really stay up to date. We have ... MISAC (Municipal Information Systems Association of California), and I follow that religiously to see what’s going on, what’s trending here in California. Wired ... any type of tech that I can get, magazine or info that I can get my hands on, I’ll just peruse through.
Techwire: What are your hobbies, and what do you enjoy reading?
Maglinti: I would say my biggest hobby is my family, my wife and my kids. I enjoy spending time with them. Both of my daughters are pre-teen, so I think it’s a really fun time right now. And then, I’m originally from Hawaii, so going back there and visiting — all my family’s there in Hawaii, so, getting back there as often as I can to see the family. I love a good round of golf. And then as far as things that I like reading, I’m more into the things that make you think about what the next version of yourself is. Just getting you thinking, not that it’s some transformational change. ... Dale Carnegie, I read every year, How to Win Friends and Influence People, just to get the wheels cranking on things you could implement in your daily life that are small changes.
*Government Technology magazine is a publication of e.Republic, which also produces Techwire.
Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for style and brevity.
Techwire One-on-One: Newport Beach IT Manager on Security, Tech Updates
