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Garden City Council renews Skynet technology contracts totaling $182,016
Summary
The Garden City Council approved two Skynet Innovations agreements: an annual IT support contract for $146,616 and a Microsoft Office 365 license renewal for $35,400. Council and staff said the contracts reduce per-device costs and reflect efforts to "right-fit" licenses and hardware counts.
Garden City — The Garden City City Council on Monday approved two technology agreements with Skynet Innovations totaling $182,016 for the 2025–26 fiscal year.
The council voted 7-0 to renew the city’s annual IT support contract with Skynet Innovations for $146,616 and separately approved a Microsoft Office 365 license renewal for $35,400.
The contracts were presented by Communications Director Zach King, who said the city and vendor reworked device counts and license tiers to reduce costs. "This allows us to reduce our overall bill with Skynet as they bill per device," King said. He told the council the city reduced its device inventory and that the new Skynet master service agreement counts only workstations and servers rather than a wider set of network devices.
King said moving to the new agreement cut the per-device cost by 7%. "In total, this is a decrease of 7% per device," he said.
Councilmembers asked whether staff had surveyed other municipalities and whether moving services in-house had been considered. King said many municipalities run some services in house and that the city vetted alternative vendors but found few with the necessary municipal experience. "Instead we vetted this against what it would take to move technology in house," he said.
Councilmember Witt moved the $146,616 contract renewal; the motion was seconded and passed 7-0. Mayor Pro Tem Dole moved the Office 365 renewal ($35,400); that motion also passed 7-0.
The council and staff said ongoing efforts to "right-fit" licenses included downgrading some employees from higher-tier licenses and removing underused computers from the city’s inventory. King pointed to removal of lab computers at the RecPoint as an example of a cost reduction tied to lowering device counts.
The approvals authorize the city manager and staff to execute the documents to implement the contracts; council did not place additional conditions on the contracts.
Budget details: the support contract was presented as a $146,616 line item; the Office 365 license renewal was listed at $35,400. The council did not give a revised multi-year cost forecast during the meeting.
The contracts will take effect for the fiscal year 2025–26 as part of the city’s technology services budget.
Ending: The council approved both motions unanimously. Staff said they will continue to monitor device counts and licensing tiers to capture further savings.
