By David A. F. Sweet The Innovation and Technology (IT) Department is crucial to the smooth operation of other City departments in Lake Forest. From making sure City employees can communicate with residents to storing essential data to avoiding outages that could impact public safety, IT is the behind-the-scenes force that enables the City to work efficiently. The IT team has been blessed with some relatively new hires -- Shane Foreman, Tony Canania and Jake Micksch -- who are committed to the continued strong performance of the department. Each arrived within the past year or so. What attracted them to work for the City?
Tony Canania (left), Jake Micksch and Shane Foreman have come together to help renovate Deerpath Community Park. “The public sector has always been interesting to me -- contributing to a team where the goal is to keep services up and running for the people of a community is very rewarding,” said Foreman, who is an IT support specialist. “I came from working as a field technician for outsourced IT companies, so for me a big draw was the idea of getting to learn an environment and keep it up and running smoothly.” Added Canania, “I was kind of spinning my wheels in the private sector and really needed a spark to get me excited about my career again, and this has provided me exactly that.” Micksch was hired at the City of Lake Forest as an intern. “I found the position to be very appealing as it fit the criteria in an internship that I was looking for as well as being able to further my knowledge in the field and help build experience for me,” noted Micksch, who is the City’s IT intern. The trio have different-day-to-day duties. For Foreman, job one is an audit of all the IT hardware in the City. He also helps monitor help-desk tickets that come in. Canania, a systems administrator, is focused on maintaining and improving current systems, like networking and security infrastructure, either through project work or daily tasks. Micksch is busy with completing his current project, the rollout of new City computers and other devices.
All have come together to help renovate Deerpath Community Park. Foreman has been involved with inventory management of the camera equipment that will be installed; Canania is setting up network connectivity, including Wi-Fi and sports cameras which will allow citizens to livestream games, while Micksch has helped install the construction camera at the park so anyone can view the progress live on the project website. The three workers are pleased to work for a department that is so vital to the City in the 21st century. “In today's world of technology driven work, everyone needs the systems that are managed by IT to run smoothly,” Foreman said. Canania pointed out, “From our internal services to our more public-facing operations with our Police and Fire Departments, Recreation Center and City Hall, among others, we do our best to support and provide efficiencies throughout the organization.” Added Micksch, “We’re here to help resolve technical issues for all departments within the City and make sure that they can get online and access what they need so they can do their jobs.” And they all agree that those whom they work with have been pleasant, even when awaiting a fix so they can return to work. Said Foreman, “I have found that we are lucky to have users that are patient and willing to work with us to solve problems. I feel lucky to be a part of the team.”