Wayne Padilla, who helped lead the City through its most recent budget process as interim director of Finance and Information Technology, has joined the City in a permanent role. Padilla, who stepped up to assist the City this past January after the departure of Charles Bourbeau, has more than 25 years of experience in finance and most recently was the assistant city administrator/finance director for the City of Chowchilla. He previously worked with the cities of Madera and Modesto. Padilla brings some much desired stability to this key role, which has experienced a lot of departmental change since the departure of former director, Bill Statler, who served until 2010. Statler was followed by Mary Bradley who served as the interim director from July 2010-October 2011 as the City sought a permanent director. Bourbeau was hired for the role and worked from November 2011 until the following November, when he left citing health reasons. The Finance and Information Technology Department is responsible for managing the City’s financial (utility billing, revenue billing and collection, budget formulation and implementation) and technology operations. Padilla will manage the departmental staff of 22 with an annual operating budget of $5.5 million.