I would like to take a few moments to offer my thanks and appreciation for being allowed to serve as the TAGITM President for 2018-2019. It was truly an honor to represent the organization. I am hopeful we continue to see growth at the conference in our education offerings and our membership base by opening our borders just a bit. Ha, I believe there was a similar theme of a conference in the past - Expanding our Borders.

The 41st annual TAGITM conference is in the rear view mirror. I hope everyone that was able to attend had a great time and was able to walk away with some new ideas, plenty of networking time and maybe even some new contact info from fellow members and sponsors.

There is still time to help TAGITM reach our membership goal this year. We currently have 207 agency members with a goal of 240. You can help us achieve our goal by reaching out to your colleagues and contacts in surrounding cities, counties and school districts. Who better to recruit new members than current members. Call, text, email, message them selling them on the benefits of our great organization.

Join me in welcoming our two newest RMG chairs - Jennifer Frescaz from Midland has accepted the West Texas RMG chair and Kyle Benson from Kingsville has accepted the Central Coast RMG chair. Also, we are still looking for someone to volunteer at the RMG chair for the Panhandle RMG. Being a RMG chair is a great way to get more involved in TAGITM and make a larger impact on our organization.

In April, prior to the Annual Conference, the board sent out a survey to determine whether the TAGITM membership found value in GMIS Data Dive Benchmarking and Analytics tool. The survey had limited response with very few members requesting that the program continue. As a result, on June 30 our contract with GMIS to provide TAGITM members with access to the GMIS Data Dive will end. If you have need for reports for budget or informational purposes, you should access and retrieve data before June 30.

The TAGITM Education Committee focused on bringing the information that members requested to this year’s conference. We introduced an exciting innovation track that featured topics such as smart cities and IOT presentations. The committee also provided an opportunity to get an early jump on things with Microsoft BI training orchestrated by Tangent.

The Texas Association of Governmental Information Technology Managers, TAGITM, is an information system's professional organization that provides a forum for generating ideas, sharing problems and developing solutions. The association's main objective is to enable cities, counties, schools and appraisal districts within Texas to realize the full potential of automation benefits. The association currently has over 200 cities, counties, appraisal districts and school districts as part of their membership program. Click Here for the full listing of individuals and projects receiving recognition.

As I sit back and reflect on this year’s conference, I can’t help but feel such a sense of joy and excitement. Yes, the conference is over, we had to leave our peers and all the fun behind us in The Woodlands. However, I can’t help but smile when I think about the amazing people we have serving our communities across Texas.

City of Midland is our spotlight member for this month. Read on for their plans, achievements, challenges and more.

Review the minutes of the 2019 Annual Business Meeting.