IT board reviews 2026 IT capital-improvement plan; no formal actions taken
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Summary
City IT staff presented the proposed 2026 IT CIP, covering AV upgrades, PC replacement scheduling, fiber relocation, network core and access-point replacement, UPS planning and a scaled-back Laserfiche cloud migration; board received the report and no vote was required.
Waukesha City IT staff presented a report on the proposed 2026 information-technology capital-improvement program (CIP), outlining equipment replacement schedules and several projects that staff said will be advanced through existing budget and procurement processes.
Chris, an IT staff member, introduced the CIP overview and turned technical questions to Andrew, the city’s audio-video and communications specialist, for an explanation of planned AV and kiosk replacements. Andrew described replacement and maintenance planning for council chambers, training rooms, conference rooms and downtown kiosks that run BrightSign players.
Andrew said the council-chamber work the city proposes to fund with a $150,000 line item would focus on programming and user experience improvements; a full rebuild of the chamber with new equipment could cost an estimated $300,000–$500,000, he said. He also described four existing public kiosks (clock tower, Five Points, Humans Park and Riverwalk) and said BrightSign units feed display content; staff reported the city has about 4 kiosks in public locations and 17–20 BrightSign players across facilities. Andrew said kiosks generally perform well for visitors but are less used by residents.
On desktop and laptop replacement, Chris explained the city’s five- to six-year replacement schedule. Under a recent state contract the city now receives devices with a four-year warranty; the city’s practice is warranty period plus two years, which yields a roughly six-year lifecycle for most desktops and laptops. Staff said the current standard specification is an Intel i7-class processor, 16 GB of memory and a 500 GB SSD and that, where necessary, specialized workstations (for engineering or CAD) follow different specs.
Staff also discussed network infrastructure. Chris said the city moved from Juniper to Cisco switches about seven years ago and that core data-center switches installed in 2020 will approach replacement in the coming years. The city’s firewalls were replaced two years ago; staff said end-of-life manufacturer notices will drive future firewall replacements because security updates are required to maintain protection.
A fiber-relocation project was discussed: the city will move a 48-strand fiber run out of the Lindholm building (previously used by the school district) into Les Paul Middle School as part of a joint project with the school district and Carroll University. Chris said the move is part of a larger transition the school district is making as it vacates the Lindholm building.
Staff described recent AV and wireless work, noting roughly 42 access points were replaced this year across city properties and that the department maintains spare units. For UPS and generator planning, staff said the data-center UPS equipment remains under warranty and is monitored; the city retains a trailer-mounted generator and exercises generator systems regularly.
On software and document management, staff said a planned migration of the city’s Laserfiche document-management system from on-premises to the cloud will not proceed because the cloud option raised ongoing annual maintenance costs (staff cited a projected annual maintenance increase to about $70,000). The CIP materials therefore retain Laserfiche cloud migration items as placeholders but staff said those entries will be removed from the near-term budget submission. Staff said document scanning and digitization projects will remain in future-year planning as departments continue to digitize records.
Staff provided a brief update on the CAD/RMS procurement process: the CAD contract is signed and technical kickoff and server-setup work are scheduled; the RMS procurement remains under evaluation with demos continuing and implementation expected over a multi-year timeline. Board members asked clarifying questions about installations, expected lifespans, failure contingencies and the ability to test new systems in nonproduction environments. No board action was required on the CIP item; the presentation was received as a report.
