The Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation Board of School Trustees on July 8 approved a five-year lease for backend server infrastructure through ClearSky Financial Services/ClearSky Joint Ventures at a cost not to exceed $175,000 per year.

District Technology Director Dr. Brian Biggerstaff told the board that the existing server cluster — purchased in 2018 — supports phones, file servers and other core systems and currently requires $35,000 per year for hardware support plus a $145,000 annual fee for VMware licensing and related software. He said leasing updated hardware and including licensing and support under a General Services Administration (GSA) quote would consolidate those costs.

The move is intended to replace aging hardware and centralize licensing and support; Board Vice President Timothy Cummins added that leasing would cost less long term and provide better equipment. No members of the public spoke on the item.

The board voted 4-0 to approve the lease agreement. The motion was made by Jennifer Reed and seconded by Dave Oberle. Board members voting yes were Timothy Cummins, Dave Oberle, Deon Brimmage and Jennifer Reed; Board President Matt Saner was absent.

The resolution authorizes district staff to execute the GSA-backed lease and proceed with implementation; the district did not provide a line-item funding source during the meeting. Implementation details and any required procurement finalization under the GSA quote were not specified at the meeting.

Background: Dr. Biggerstaff said the current cluster was purchased in 2018 and that the district faces both hardware-support and virtualization-software costs; the approved lease covers updated hardware, SCALE software, all licensing and continued support for up to five years at the stated annual maximum cost.

The board approved the item as presented and moved to the next agenda item.