City information technology staff briefed the council on a proposal to replace the fire department’s video-conferencing system with modern Teams-compatible hardware and services at a cost not to exceed $280,000.

Jeff Anderson, deputy CIO, said the city’s current system dates to about 2010 and originally was a Tandberg system later supported by Cisco; in 2020 Cisco stopped supporting it and staff have since procured parts from third parties. Anderson said the system is used daily to connect the chief and station personnel for general orders, incident reviews and training.

“We’re asking to replace that with a more, standard Teams platform like we have in a lot of the conference rooms around the city,” Anderson said. He said the plan is to install the equipment in each fire station and in new stations when they open; the city secured a 21% discount on professional services in the vendor quote.

Councilors asked whether the police department uses a similar system; staff replied that APD uses Teams in its roll-call facility but that the fire system supports daily remote roll calls at each station where crews remain for 48-hour shifts.

The item was presented as information only; there was no council vote recorded on the floor action during the meeting.