Wasco County staff recommend three-year Esri enterprise renewal, cite minimal increase and in-house hosting

Andrew Burke, Wasco County information services director, asked the board on April 2, 2025, to approve a three-year extension of the county's Esri enterprise agreement and to authorize signing the contract.

"In front of you, you have the enterprise agreement for ESRI Esri software. This is the software that enables us to have our GIS web maps on the website for, citizens to be able to access along with, internal, geospatial slash mapping analysis, processes for assessment and taxation, planning, billing codes, etcetera, etcetera," Burke said.

Burke said the proposed contract represents a small increase compared with other IT contracts and requested authority to sign the agreement. A board member praised Burke's memo for including the previous annual subscription cost, saying it made comparison easier and that the increase was "remarkably small." Another board member asked whether Esri dominates the market and whether the county evaluates alternatives.

Burke said counties commonly use Esri and that it is comparable to a "Microsoft" in the GIS marketplace. He told the board that while Esri can be more expensive than other vendors, its integrations and capabilities often justify the cost. "The number of integrations and capabilities that Esri offers is far and away above what is other products are capable of at this point in time," Burke said.

Burke explained the county hosts Esri Enterprise on its own infrastructure and therefore provides a tier‑1 level of support internally. "What's a little bit unique about us is we actually host our software in house. We use what's called Esri Enterprise. And, we have established an infrastructure that is capable of handling that tier 1 support, which gives us a, actually a little bit of a cost benefit," he said. He added that Esri cloud hosting is available but would be more expensive.

Burke identified two county GIS staff by name—Tycho Granville and Jamie Solar—and said they, together with the county IT team, provide support. "They are professionally trained and educated, within the GIS, solutions and, skill sets," he said. Burke said routine user requests often route through the relevant department (for example, planning) to the GIS team for diagnosis and resolution.

The transcript excerpt records questions and answers but does not include a formal recorded vote on the agreement in the provided section. Burke asked for approval to sign and move forward; the board's discussion focused on market alternatives, staffing, support levels, and the countable budget impact, which a member said appeared small and budgeted.

No contract terms (dollar amounts) were read into the record in the excerpt provided; the memo referenced earlier in the discussion contained prior-year subscription figures but the transcript did not record exact amounts.