Aurora IT leaders present 2025 budget, emphasize cybersecurity and smart-city projects
October 26, 2024 | Aurora, DuPage County, Illinois
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Mike Piguetz, the city hief Information Officer, presented the Information Technology Department udget request for 2025 to the Aurora Special Finance Committee on Oct. 25.
Piguetz framed the budget around a long-term digital plan that originated in 2017 and has evolved into a broader igital strategy tied to public safety, revenue systems and internal services. "Technology is an underpinning foundation of everything we do at the city of Aurora. It drives our operation. It drives our revenue. It drives services," Piguetz said.
The department requested funding for multiple operational and capital priorities in 2025. Key items described in the presentation included:
- Public-safety communications: continued work with L3 Harris on a P25 public-safety radio upgrade intended to improve fire, police and emergency-management communications.
- Cybersecurity and monitoring: ongoing maintenance of a security operations center and Data Defenders capability that the CIO said monitors critical infrastructure 24/7.
- Infrastructure and service desk modernization: upgrades to network infrastructure, deployment of a new service-management platform (Avanti) and replacement of ruggedized laptops for first responders.
- Digital services and data programs: a proposed lateral upgrade to create a chief data officer position to unify data and GIS functions; an expanded digital-twin and indoor-mapping program; and continuation of the open-data portal and analytics work.
- Project management and procurement support: a multiyear arrangement with Crowe (described as RO as a service uring the presentation) to augment the city MO PMO for large implementations. Jeff Anderson, deputy CIO, said the vendor helps scope procurements and that the city estimates roughly $2 million in savings over three to four years from using the service for targeted purchases.
- Teams-enabled conference rooms: a multi-year effort to deploy video/virtual meeting rooms across city facilities to reduce travel and support hybrid meetings. Piguetz and Anderson described year-by-year phasing tied to room counts and building priorities (fire stations were cited as part of year one).
Committee members asked for additional detail on savings attributed to the Crowe arrangement and on multi-year phasing for Teams conference rooms and video-management investments. Alderman Martin requested the documentation on projected savings; Anderson said he would distribute it offline.
Staffing and organizational details disclosed in the presentation included that IT has centralized since 2018 and grown from roughly 18ull-time positions to about 45 positions today, and that proposed decision packages included new support-desk staff, promotions within the PMO and a chief data officer change for the director of data and analytics.
The CIO also reviewed community-facing programs supported by ITunding, including the Aurora STEM Academy and a set of no-child-offline virtual learning centers established during the COVID period. Piguetz said those programs had reached many children and that the STEM Academy placed particular emphasis on girls in STEM; the presentation stated the program has "served over 8,008 disenfranchised kids" since inception.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the IT budget during the Oct. 25 session; the department
sked the committee to review the decision packages and bring questions forward. Piguetz said several items (for example, the citywide fiber/retail broadband concept) are being pursued separately through the mayor
nd partners and would return to the committee as standalone items.
Why this matters: the 2025 IT budget request combines operational maintenance (network, devices, cybersecurity) with investments meant to accelerate the city igital strategy and support public-safety systems. Several items are multi-year and contingent on procurement timelines and vendor engagements.
The committee asked staff to supply additional backup on projected savings from procurement partnerships and to provide more precise multi-year phasing for conference-room and video-management rollouts.
Votes at a glance: the meeting adjournment was moved, seconded and approved 4-0 (see action record in metadata).
Piguetz framed the budget around a long-term digital plan that originated in 2017 and has evolved into a broader igital strategy tied to public safety, revenue systems and internal services. "Technology is an underpinning foundation of everything we do at the city of Aurora. It drives our operation. It drives our revenue. It drives services," Piguetz said.
The department requested funding for multiple operational and capital priorities in 2025. Key items described in the presentation included:
- Public-safety communications: continued work with L3 Harris on a P25 public-safety radio upgrade intended to improve fire, police and emergency-management communications.
- Cybersecurity and monitoring: ongoing maintenance of a security operations center and Data Defenders capability that the CIO said monitors critical infrastructure 24/7.
- Infrastructure and service desk modernization: upgrades to network infrastructure, deployment of a new service-management platform (Avanti) and replacement of ruggedized laptops for first responders.
- Digital services and data programs: a proposed lateral upgrade to create a chief data officer position to unify data and GIS functions; an expanded digital-twin and indoor-mapping program; and continuation of the open-data portal and analytics work.
- Project management and procurement support: a multiyear arrangement with Crowe (described as RO as a service uring the presentation) to augment the city MO PMO for large implementations. Jeff Anderson, deputy CIO, said the vendor helps scope procurements and that the city estimates roughly $2 million in savings over three to four years from using the service for targeted purchases.
- Teams-enabled conference rooms: a multi-year effort to deploy video/virtual meeting rooms across city facilities to reduce travel and support hybrid meetings. Piguetz and Anderson described year-by-year phasing tied to room counts and building priorities (fire stations were cited as part of year one).
Committee members asked for additional detail on savings attributed to the Crowe arrangement and on multi-year phasing for Teams conference rooms and video-management investments. Alderman Martin requested the documentation on projected savings; Anderson said he would distribute it offline.
Staffing and organizational details disclosed in the presentation included that IT has centralized since 2018 and grown from roughly 18ull-time positions to about 45 positions today, and that proposed decision packages included new support-desk staff, promotions within the PMO and a chief data officer change for the director of data and analytics.
The CIO also reviewed community-facing programs supported by ITunding, including the Aurora STEM Academy and a set of no-child-offline virtual learning centers established during the COVID period. Piguetz said those programs had reached many children and that the STEM Academy placed particular emphasis on girls in STEM; the presentation stated the program has "served over 8,008 disenfranchised kids" since inception.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the IT budget during the Oct. 25 session; the department
sked the committee to review the decision packages and bring questions forward. Piguetz said several items (for example, the citywide fiber/retail broadband concept) are being pursued separately through the mayor
nd partners and would return to the committee as standalone items.
Why this matters: the 2025 IT budget request combines operational maintenance (network, devices, cybersecurity) with investments meant to accelerate the city igital strategy and support public-safety systems. Several items are multi-year and contingent on procurement timelines and vendor engagements.
The committee asked staff to supply additional backup on projected savings from procurement partnerships and to provide more precise multi-year phasing for conference-room and video-management rollouts.
Votes at a glance: the meeting adjournment was moved, seconded and approved 4-0 (see action record in metadata).
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