LANSING ? Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Tuesday the next step in her efforts to consolidate state government with the merger of the departments of Management and Budget and Information Technology.

Granholm said the executive order to detail the change would not be issued for a couple Of weeks, but she said DIT Director Ken Theis will oversee the consolidation and head the new department.

DMB Director Lisa Webb Sharp is headed to Lansing Community College as senior vice president for finance and administration, an appointment announced late Monday. Phyllis Mellon, chief deputy director of DIT, will serve as DMB director until the merger is completed.

“By combining these departments, we are building on our work of pursuing every efficiency. With this announcement, our efforts will have resulted in the net elimination of five state departments and nearly 200 boards and commissions,” Ms. Granholm said in a statement. “This merger also reflects the enormous role of technology in streamlining government and serving our citizens.”

The new department will still include the Office of the State Budget and that program will not be affected by the reorganization, Granholm said.

And the change will not affect DIT’s goals of consolidating technology use, said Granholm press secretary Liz Boyd. “All of their priorities and their mission will continue as is,” she said. “They’re certainly not going to go backward on anything they’re working on.”

The move will instead allow more technology to be incorporated into DMB’s current processes, Boyd said.

The move ends Information Technology just past its 8th birthday. Former Governor John Engler created the department in October 2001 as a means to consolidate technology use, purchases and development in the state. The department absorbed all of the technology staff from across the departments.

The order also largely completes the restructuring or renaming of the departments Mr. Engler created during his three terms. In addition to the elimination of DIT, Granholm has also eliminated the Department of History, Arts and Libraries, also created in 2001; recombined the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality (assuming the Legislature does not reject the plan); created the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth from what was the departments of Career Development and Consumer and Industry Services; and renamed the Family Independence Agency to the Department of Human Services.

The only change Engler made that is still intact is the combination of the departments of Public Health and Mental Health into the Department of Community Health.

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