The city announced the hiring of a new chief information officer Friday.

Joe Palmer will join the city Jan. 21, pending City Council confirmation.

Palmer will be paid $128,000 annually.

The city said Palmer was selected “after a comprehensive five-month recruitment and interview process” with more than 120 applicants nationwide.

“Joe has 15 years of progressively responsible experience in information technology and accounting, including nearly five years as a chief information officer,” the city said in a news release. “He specializes in strategic planning and process optimization and has experience leading multiple large-scale transformational initiative and projects that deliver critical business outcomes.  Most recently Joe served as chief information officer for Jefferson County where he oversaw a staff of 78 and budgets of up to $15.5 million for nearly 5 years.”

Palmer has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Middle Tennessee State University and a master’s in business administration from the University of Colorado, the city said. Palmer also holds a Project Management Professional certification and is “affiliated with numerous professional associations and has earned multiple awards for his work,” the city said.

Here’s more information about Palmer’s  responsibilities as described in the job posting:

The Chief Information Officer is a highly responsible (at-will) executive position reporting to the Chief of Staff/Chief Administrative Officer. The CIO will provide vision and leadership by championing key technology initiatives that will transform the way the City does business and lead efforts toward practical, effective, and efficient technology and information solutions for the City organization and the citizens of Colorado Springs. This department, with a 2012 budget of over $13 million, is staffed by seventy-one full-time equivalent employees (fifty-five positions currently filled) and nine contract staff.

This position is responsible for all of the City’s technological needs including the maintenance and support of technical network and application infrastructures, enterprise and department specific applications (e.g., email in a Microsoft Exchange environment, PeopleSoft financial and human resources ERP, customer web interface programs and applications, and an award winning eGovernment website), region-wide Radio and ESRI GIS systems, comprehensive data telecommunications network, and a City-operated Cisco telephone system. Currently, the City is primarily a Microsoft shop with minimal open source utilization.