Budget committee advances $640,000 five-year firewall replacement and ServiceNow support contract

The Budget & Finance Committee advanced two IT purchases: authorization for a five-year agreement to replace the city's end‑of‑life firewall, presented as a lump‑sum procurement budgeted at roughly $640,000, and a one‑year contract with Beyond20 for implementation and support of additional ServiceNow features.

Darren Fricker (IT representative) told the committee the existing firewall hardware is end-of-life and the replacement will be procured through resellers, with a five‑year pricing structure that the IT department expects to cover through internal IT funds. Fricker said the industry has shifted to lump‑sum, multi‑year pricing, which is why the five‑year total appears higher than prior annual payments. Council members noted the $640,000 figure and asked how it would be financed.

Fricker said the purchase is budgeted in the IT internal service fund and described possible mechanisms to pay the lump sum: use unspent items in the IT fund this year, an interfund transfer with the capital fund paying upfront and then reimbursing, or a chargeback structure to departments. He said the department is still finalizing whether to cover the cost from current IT fund savings or by internal transfers.

Committee members asked for context about prior annual costs; Fricker said the previous annual payment was about $80,000, and the five‑year lump sum represents the multi‑year pricing approach rather than an annual increase of that magnitude. The committee put the firewall ordinance on the consent agenda.

The committee also approved placing on consent a one‑year contract with Beyond20 for ServiceNow support and consulting to implement new ticketing features. Fricker said the ServiceNow contract is the annual support and consulting arrangement used by the city's IT help-desk system.

Both items were placed on the consent agenda after motions and seconds at committee; no roll-call opposition was recorded in the transcript.