City staff told the council July 30 that the city's IT-services arrangement with a vendor named Bridgehead has produced recurring costs and unresolved technical issues, and staff said it will request competing bids.

Fred, presenting the budget, outlined the city's recent IT expenditures and the vendor relationship. He said the city has seen recurring invoices for software licensing, managed services and consultant overages and noted the city paid significant sums to remediate cybersecurity problems in recent months. "We paid them 6 figures to fix all that stuff. We shouldn't be having that problem," Fred said. Staff and council described two separate monthly invoices that include managed-service hours and Microsoft licensing, and they questioned the apparent gap between what was committed and actual ongoing costs.

Why it matters: staff said reliable IT management, licensing and cybersecurity are critical to municipal operations (finance, court records, permitting, camera systems). Fred said the current contract provides an allotment of service hours but that the hours are exhausted quickly and produce overage charges; he also noted the vendor bills for Microsoft licensing and other fees.

Next steps: staff said they have received interest from at least one other IT firm and expect additional bids; they will provide council with invoices and a comparison of proposed managed-service offerings. Councilmembers asked staff to obtain written bids and to review the city's current licensing and invoicing to identify potential savings. No contract changes were approved at the workshop.