Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Police Oversight It Contracts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Akron council approves emergency contracts for phone, oversight and court case systems
Summary
City council voted 13-0 to approve multiple emergency ordinances authorizing IT and police-oversight contracts, suspending rules to allow immediate implementation.
Akron City Council on an evening session approved a string of emergency ordinances authorizing technology and case-management contracts for city operations and police oversight, with all votes showing 13-0 in favor.
Council members suspended the rules and approved contracts that included an annual subscription for the Cisco phone system, a case-management and database system for the Akron Citizens Police Oversight Board and the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, a data-analysis contract for the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, an extension for final implementation of the Odyssey case-management system for the courts and other server and equipment purchases.
The measures were presented by Councilman Lombardo, who offered several items on the consent agenda and asked the council to suspend the rules to treat the ordinances as emergency measures. The council then voted to suspend rules and pass the ordinances. Councilman Fusco and Councilman Kammer also presented related items and referred other items for public hearing, including a demolition request set for public hearing and conditional-use and capital-improvement applications.
Why it matters: the contracts affect the city—s communications, public-safety oversight and court case-management infrastructure and move forward under emergency declarations to accelerate implementation.
Details: Ordinances passed included authorization for the mayor or his designee to contract with CDWG LLC for Cisco phone-system licensing; Verint Americas Incorporated for a case-management and database system for the Akron Citizens Police Oversight Board and the Office of the Independent Police Auditor; JNP Industries LLC for data-analysis services for the Office of the Independent Police Auditor; an extension with Tyler Technologies for final implementation of the Odyssey case-management system for the courts; and purchases of server equipment for the water plant from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company. Council also approved a grant-funded purchase of a high-fidelity simulation mannequin for the Fire Department from Bound Tree Medical LLC.
Council members said the requests came with favorable committee reports and the council acted to suspend rules and declare emergencies as allowed under city procedure so the contracts could be finalized. Several items were placed on the consent agenda and approved without individual roll-call debate.
What the council did not do: the meeting record shows no extended debate of the technical specifications, contracting process, or dollar amounts for the contracts during the floor votes; detailed contract terms were not discussed on the public record during the vote. Some items were referred for advertised public hearings at later dates.
Looking ahead: several vendors and capital-improvement applications will proceed under the authority granted by the ordinances, and referred items such as the demolition certificate for the former Firestone headquarters were scheduled for later public hearings.
