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New Berlin council authorizes Fire Department contract with First Due for records system
Summary
The New Berlin Common Council unanimously approved the Fire Department's contract with First Due to replace two separate records-management systems with a single platform. The initial cost is $38,050, with a $27,650 annual subscription to be paid from state FAP funds, city staff said.
The New Berlin Common Council on April 28 unanimously authorized the Fire Department to enter a contract with First Due for a consolidated records management system, approving a $38,050 initial package and a $27,650 annual subscription to be paid from state FAP (Firefighter Assistance Program) funding.
City officials said the First Due system will replace two separate RMS (records management system) platforms the department currently uses. "So currently, the fire department uses two separate RMS systems," a Fire Department representative said, explaining the swap is prompted by compatibility problems with the system the department must use for grant and state reporting and by an upcoming reporting-system change scheduled for January 2026.
The Nut Graf: Council members and staff said the change is intended to consolidate scheduling, EMS reporting and other functions into a single vendor so the department can export necessary payroll and time-and-attendance data to the city's Tyler Munis system, avoid duplicate vendor fees and meet new reporting requirements tied to grants.
Officials laid out contract costs during the discussion: a one-time implementation/user fee listed in the contract of $10,400 plus a subscription fee of $27,650, for a total initial payment of $38,050. Payment terms in the contract read net 30 days. The Fire Department representative confirmed the city intends to use FAP funds to cover both the one-time and subscription costs. "We had a significant increase in our FAP funding this year," the Fire Department representative said.
Council members asked about timing and escalation clauses. Staff said the department aims to complete the migration by the end of the year and prioritized roster and EMS components first so personnel and patient-care reporting are in place before the current EMS-related service renewals become due. The transcript records the date the old system will no longer be compatible as in January 2026. The contract also allows automatic 12-month renewals and permits the vendor to increase renewal service fees by up to 5% per year.
The Fire Department representative described additional operational changes tied to the move: the department expects to replace some field hardware (current "Toughbooks") with smaller tablet-style devices and to fund that hardware replacement from FAP funds rather than the city's general fund. Officials also noted there will be migration costs to transfer data from the existing RMS platforms; those migration costs were acknowledged but not specified in the contract discussion.
After discussion, a motion to approve the department's entry into the contract with First Due was made, seconded and approved unanimously. The council did not specify individual roll-call votes in the transcript; the clerk confirmed the motion passed.
The meeting adjourned after the vote.
