Springfield department head to retire

Neil Slagle, who has served as director of the city of Springfield's Information Systems Department since 2020, is scheduled to retire from the municipality next week.

Slagle's last day is scheduled March 27, according to a news release.

"Neil has been an invaluable partner to every department at the city," Deputy City Manager Collin Quigley said in the release. "His leadership guided us through some of our most complex technology challenges, and he consistently delivered solutions that strengthened both our operations and our security."

Slagle heads up a department with 32 employees and an annual budget of $4.45 million, or 5% of the general fund budget, according to the city's website. The department provides network and phone services in over 140 city facilities, maintains geographical information systems and aerial photography, and supports the city's internet, intranet, enterprise software and online payment systems.

Prior to joining the city of Springfield, Slagle retired in 2017 from the state of Michigan Department of Technology Management & Budget. He has more than 20 years of experience in government.

Slagle is credited in the release with leading the municipality to transition systems to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. During his tenure, the Information Systems Department implemented an enterprise resource planning system for permitting, overhauled the city's network infrastructure and formed a public-private partnership with the Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.

"I am immensely proud and thankful for the staff of the IS team who provide all centralized IT services to the city of Springfield," Slagle said in the release. "Without them, this city would not be able to function. They go above and beyond every day. I wish there was more time; I have always said to city leadership that if the city gave me twice the staff, I would get twice the work accomplished."

Nichole Plowman, assistant IS director, is slated to handle Slagle's responsibilities in the interim upon his retirement.