Council approves temporary staffing resolution to support multi‑year ERP replacement

The Ellensburg City Council approved Resolution 2025‑17 on Aug. 18 to establish temporary staff resources to support a planned multi‑year replacement of the city’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Jim Gaven, the city’s IT director, said the city’s current financial system, Microsoft Dynamics GP, will be unsupported after 2029 and that a replacement will require two to three years of work across departments for data migration, configuration and training. “Microsoft is sunsetting GP, and it will no longer be supported after 2029,” Gaven said.

The city engaged a consultant to write an RFP for a new ERP; the RFP closes Aug. 26. Staff recommended creating one temporary full‑time finance position in 2025 that could remain through the implementation period (up to three years) to handle pre‑implementation tasks and prevent burnout of regular staff. HR Director Lisa Young and staff estimated the 2025 partial‑year cost at about $40,639 (inclusive of benefits) and an annualized impact for 2026 near $166,822 before interfund allocations.

City staff said IT has begun setting aside budget for software, consultant fees and temporary staffing and that additional costs will be allocated to beneficiary funds. The council approved the resolution and authorized necessary budget adjustments; staff said a supplemental budget amendment will incorporate related expenditures and that further funding will be requested as the project advances.

Councilmembers thanked staff for planning and noted the timeline for vendor selection, data cleanup and cross‑departmental discovery and testing. Staff said the ERP procurement and implementation will also include records management and asset management sequencing over the coming years.