Dan Rainey, the city of Ann Arbor's information technology director for the past eight years, has given the city notice he intends to resign effective March 22.

Ann Arbor City Administrator Steve Powers confirmed Rainey's resignation Thursday afternoon in a statement emailed to other city officials.

Ann Arbor IT director Dan Rainey appears before the City Council last month.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

McCormick already hired former Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones, another former colleague, to be her security chief, which has been the subject of controversy recently.

Ann Arbor officials said Rainey will be missed.

"Dan has helped Ann Arbor earn a reputation for cutting-edge excellence and being a progressive IT environment," Powers said. "The city's IT team has appeared on Computerworld's 'Premier 100 IT Leaders' list and has achieved five consecutive top 10 'Digital City' awards."

During Rainey's tenure, Powers said, the city has benefited from numerous successful system upgrades and implementations, has received honors for being among the best digital cities in the nation, and has embraced collaborative efforts with Washtenaw County, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, city of Chelsea and University of Michigan to deliver services more efficiently.

Details on how the city might go about filling Rainey's position aren't yet known, but Powers said an interim IT director will be named next week. Rainey makes $111,785 a year.

Rainey arrived in Ann Arbor in June 2005 after working as the director of service delivery for Amerisure Insurance for nearly five years.

In Ann Arbor, Rainey oversaw an IT department with a $6.6 million annual budget and nearly two dozen employees. His department's budget and staff grew during his tenure.

"It's been an honor to serve the community and I leave here knowing that there are people in place who can continue to do a great job for the community," Rainey said.

Much of the work Rainey and his staff did probably isn't obvious to the average resident. That includes new technology used by many city departments, including finance and payroll.

But other advancements are more obvious like upgrades to the city's website and launch of an online legislative management system that have made city government more transparent. City residents now can stream city meetings online and instantly access thousands of pages of city records, including detailed budget reports. Public wi-fi also is available in the council chambers inside city hall now.

Rainey watched his staff grow from 19 to 23. While the IT budget has increased, he said, the investments the city has made have created new efficiencies and saved taxpayers money.

"I think that my role has been very rewarding," he said. "It was a unique opportunity to help build something special here. It was a transformation. The technology department before I started was very unorganized and we put a plan together that was the right thing to do."

City Council Member Christopher Taylor, D-3rd Ward, said Rainey's contributions to the city did not go unnoticed.

"IT improvements and efficiencies have been fundamental to Ann Arbor's longstanding effort to provide outstanding service to residents even in the presence of shrinking revenues and increasing costs," Taylor said. "Dan has been an important part of that story of success."

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.