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Council approves Office 365 subscription and new host server; staff cite compliance and aging hardware
Summary
Council approved procurement of Office 365 government subscription (~$21,000/year) and purchase of a host server (approx. $27,000) to modernize IT services; staff said Office 365 offers security and integration benefits and the server replaces 2017 hardware.
The council adopted two technology purchases Sept. 2: a recurring procurement to move city email and productivity to Microsoft Office 365 Government and the purchase of a new host server to replace aging hardware.
Director Sutman told council the Office 365 Government subscription will centralize e‑mail and productivity tools for all city staff, including police and fire, at an annual cost just under $21,000. "It's a little more expensive than what we have now," he said, but staff recommended the move for security, compliance and future integrations. The city’s share (city hall, fire and police) will be about $17,000 and water/sewer about $3,700 annually.
Council separately adopted a resolution to purchase a host server from CDW‑G to refresh hardware purchased in 2017. Sutman explained the older server was showing higher risk of failure and that firmware and vendor support for aging hardware decline over time. The server is a Windows/Dell environment; the purchase price presented to council was approximately $27,000 and staff said both procurements were included in the current budget.
Sutman described the migration process: the new server will be run in parallel with existing hardware during data migration, and old drives will be wiped per standard procedure before surplus. The police department hardware remains on a separate domain/hardware platform; the new host serves administrative and other city applications. Council approved both measures with 7–1 votes (Stacy voted no on the Office 365 procurement and the server pickup vote similarly recorded 7–1 for the Office 365 item; the host server vote adopted 7–1 as noted on the record for the related resolution).
Ending: Staff said the moves are intended to reduce long‑term operational risk and provide a platform for future software integrations; the IT department will publish user migration guidance and a schedule.
