Lee County to centralize ArcGIS licensing, prepare ArcGIS Pro transition and parcel fabric upgrade

Lee County GIS staff reported July 10 that the county has signed an enterprise agreement with Esri and will centralize ArcGIS licensing and hosting, with partner municipalities contributing to a county GIS fund for license costs. Nut graf: Jennifer Boyd and GIS staff said the licensing change is prompted by Esri’s licensing updates and will allow broader access across county departments and partner agencies; the county will pay Esri and then recover license fees from participating entities such as the City of Dixon water and fire departments and ETSB. Details: Boyd said the arrangement will “provide room for growth within Lee County GIS department” and that partners will “contribute directly to the GIS fund for their Esri licenses.” She noted ArcMap will retire in March 2026 and the county is transitioning to ArcGIS Pro and Esri’s parcel fabric, work that will require ArcGIS Pro deployment first and may require contracting outside vendors for the parcel fabric migration. Boyd added the GIS department is evaluating quotes from two companies to assist with the parcel fabric conversion. Cost and billing: Committee members asked whether partner fees will go to the GIS fund; Boyd confirmed the money “will go back into the GIS fund to replenish those fees.” Committee discussion noted the county also bears infrastructure costs (file servers, CPU, storage) through IT’s budget and that those costs are not currently planned to be passed through to partners unless a partner’s needs require additional hardware. Next steps: Staff will complete ArcGIS Pro deployments, finalize vendor contracts for parcel fabric work if needed, and develop a fee structure for partner license contributions and hosting. Ending: The committee had follow‑up questions but recorded no vote; staff will return with implementation details and contracts as they are negotiated.