Congratulations to Bill Schrier of West Seattle, an acclaimed tech visionary just reconfirmed as Chief Technology Officer and Director of the Department of Information Technology for the City of Seattle, a department he has led for eight years (and now will lead for at least another four). The announcement from the council, after the jump:

The Seattle City Council today unanimously approved Bill Schrier as Chief Technology Officer and Director of the Department of Information Technology (DoIT). Schrier has served as director since 2003, and has been with the City since 1992.

“Bill brings a depth of institutional knowledge and a sharp ability to get things done on time and on budget,” said Councilmember Bruce Harrell, Chair of the Energy, Technology and Civil Rights Committee. “I look forward to continue working with Bill to address technology issues in order to improve our service and engagement with the public, creating opportunities for economic development by enhancing the environment to build more fiber, and exploring new hardware and software to make government more efficient.”

DoIT provides technology leadership for the city of Seattle, including technology governance, information technology (IT) policies, and IT security. DoIT prepares and develops common standards, architectures, and business solutions, and manages the city’s technology infrastructure. Schrier is committed to the mission of the department to “make technology work for the City,” with a high level of reliability. Schrier and his staff kept the public safety voice radio network operating 99.999% of the time, and the City’s core e-mail system, telephone networks, and data communications network online with almost no downtime.

Additionally, under his tenure, the Seattle Channel was named “Top Municipal Television Station of the Year” in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In the last decade, the City’s website (Seattle.Gov) was twice recognized #1 Best of the Web. The Department of Information Technology has a staff of 195 employees and a $49 million operating budget.

Schrier earned a degree in physics and mathematics from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, and holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington. Schrier served more than twenty years in the United States Army and Army Reserve. His community and national involvement includes membership on the Catholic Archdiocesan School Board where he served as president, the Washington City-County Management Association, President of the Metropolitan Information Exchange, and an appointment to the Federal Communications Commission Public Safety Advisory Committee to build a nationwide public safety wireless broadband network.