Days after Philadelphia's CIO announced plans to resign her post
to take a job with a company that has done business with the city,
Mayor John Street asked the board of ethics to determine whether
the move violates city statutes.
Dianah Neff announced on Aug. 15 that she is leaving the CIO post that she has held since May 2001 to
become a senior partner at Alpharetta, Ga.-based Civitium LLC, a
consulting firm that specializes in municipal wireless systems.
The company had done business with Philadelphia under two separate contracts
until August 2005, helping the municipality create plans for a citywide wireless network.
Neff will remain employed by the city until Sept. 8. She will
join the consulting firm later in the month.
A spokesman for the mayor's office this week confirmed that
Street has asked the ethics board to review Neff's resignation but
said that no wrongdoing should be implied by the review. The
spokesman refused to comment further on the matter.
In an interview this week, Neff said she is comfortable with the
ethics board review.
"It's being overly cautious," which is appropriate because the
mayor's administration has been scrutinized over ethics issues, she
said. Neff said that she has no problem with a review, adding, "I
believe there's no issue here, and I believe that's what they'll
find."
Neff said that Civitium has not done any work for the city since
last August. That work cost about US$300,000 and involved radio
frequency analyses to ensure that the planned wireless network
wouldn't interfere with other systems, she said.
Neff's resignation comes at a time when Philadelphia is still
enmeshed in negotiations with Oracle Corp. over delays in deploying
a complex new billing system for its half-million water customers.
The effort to develop and deploy the billing system, code-named
Project Ocean, has already taken three years and cost more than
expected at $18 million.
The new system will replace a 30-year-old, custom-built
application that officials said isn't capable of collecting all the
revenue due to the city.
Neff's first deputy CIO, Terry Phillis, has been named to
replace her.
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