Council debates switching police dash‑cam storage to cloud as budget amendment proceeds

Wasilla IT manager Steve Stewart and police staff described a proposal to move police dash‑cam video storage from an aging, on‑premises server to a vendor cloud service during a May 27 committee‑of‑the‑whole discussion.

Stewart said the current hardware server is five to six years old, has required repeated storage increases and is out of warranty and support. A cloud subscription would provide camera warranties, automatic off‑car uploads, easier management and effectively unlimited storage; Stewart said the subscription is more expensive long‑term but reduces local hardware replacement and administration.

Council members asked whether a cloud approach would reduce officers’ end‑of‑shift administrative time. Stewart said evidence would upload automatically from the patrol vehicle, reducing the need for an officer to return to the station to upload files. He also said a new on‑premises server replacement would cost roughly $70,000 plus annual maintenance whereas the cloud option bundles cameras, maintenance and hosting.

The matter was discussed in the context of amendment 26 to the FY26 budget, which the council considered during committee of the whole. Amendment 26 (computer/software maintenance for the police department) was moved for consideration and later adopted as part of the amendment votes recorded in the meeting. Council members asked for confirmation of costs and operational details from IT before taking final budget action; staff said the cloud option was recommended because the existing on‑prem hardware is out of support and has already failed in the past.

No final procurement decision on cloud hosting versus new local hardware was made at the May 27 meeting; the council postponed final adoption of the FY26 ordinance to allow review and, if necessary, additional information from IT and police leaders.