FAIRHOPE, Alabama—A process to replace Fairhope’s citywide computer system, called “obsolete” three years ago by a strategic planning committee, is now under way.

The new system will improve the functioning of municipal government from customer billing services to an array of daily tasks in all departments, according to members of the Fairhope Personnel Board at a Friday meeting.

“The inefficiencies I saw in the old AS-400 system boggled my mind,” personnel board member Diane Thomas said Friday at the group’s monthly meeting. “It was the sales tax passed by the City Council that allowed the city to go forward with this major project.”

Appointed by the council after the 2008 city election, the strategic planning committee concluded that the old computer system (using a DOS-based system with black screen and white letters familiar to computer users in the 80s and 90s) was a priority item the city needed to address to bring the functioning of Fairhope’s municipal government into the 21^st century.

“Not many people understand the research and start-up it took to get this done,” said Pandora Heathcoe, the city’s human resources director, adding that department heads had met last week to continue the transition to the new computer system.

In other business, the personnel board heard a report from Heathcoe about a recent employee benefits fair. She said more than 100 employees attended from a roster of about 320 full-time staff.  “My hat’s off to you to make this year’s event such a positive thing,” Thomas said. A similar event is planned for next year, Heathcoe said.

The personnel board’s next meeting is at 9 a.m., Nov. 16, in the Delchamps Room at the Fairhope Civic Center.