Finance committee approves $70,000 amendment to consultant contract for Tyler licensing module after debate on ERP costs

The Oxnard City Finance and Governance Committee voted 2-1 June 10 to recommend the City Council approve an amendment to the city's consulting agreement with TG Consulting Services to complete the Tyler ERP licensing module and extend the contract to Nov. 30, 2025.

The amendment, as presented to the committee, would increase the consultant contract by $70,000; the staff report did not present a clear single consolidated total for all consulting work on the licensing piece. The committee's vote followed public comment and extended council questioning about the larger ERP implementation and repeated contract increases.

The item drew two public speakers who criticized the project's costs and administration. Jim Lavery told the committee the ERP implementation had become a "money pit," praised the stabilizing work of current staff and asked why voter-approved Measure E signature projects were not appearing in the budget message. "Everything makes perfect sense," Lavery said before urging the city to pursue public-private partnerships to fund community projects.

Alicia Parcel echoed those concerns, saying the original project cost and timeline had been exceeded. Parcel said she believed the ERP implementation was initially described as costing about $7 million and taking two to three years, and that the city had now spent far more. "This item is just a tiny piece of that project and just this piece alone is now up to $360,000," Parcel said, asking for a public update on the total cost to date and detailed reasons for delays and overruns.

Council members pressed staff for specifics. Javier Chavo, chief financial officer, told the committee the city began evaluating ERP proposals in late 2018 and that the financial side of the system began city use in October 2022. Chavo said pandemic-related delays and repeated staff turnover were the main causes of implementation delays: "The person that was supposed to lead this process for the city left the city," he said, adding that some licensing work proved more complex than anticipated.

Staff described the requested amendment as focused on finalizing development, testing, configuration and training for the licensing module. Assistant Chief Financial Officer (identified in the record as "Sue") said much of TG Consulting's remaining work is implementation-specific and that the consultant will assist to "get to the finish line to get the touchdown." Councilmember Star said she was uneasy about the consultant's hourly rate and the practice of hiring former employees as contractors; Councilmember Rodriguez said she preferred completing the project with appropriate accountability rather than pausing it.

The motion to recommend approval was made by Chair McArthur; no second was recorded in the discussion transcript. The roll call was: Star — no; McArthur — yes; Rodriguez — yes. The motion carried 2-1.

Committee members asked staff for additional information going forward. Councilmember Star requested a report on the original forecast for Tyler implementation (including training), amounts spent to date and future cost estimates, and an inventory of former city employees currently performing services for the city. The committee did not take other formal directions in the public record beyond approving the contract amendment.

The committee record shows the amendment extends the TG Consulting Services engagement to Nov. 30, 2025 and directs weekly training progress updates from the consultant to the director of billing and licensing as described in the contract exhibit. The staff report and committee discussion repeatedly cited staff turnover in the licensing division as a primary driver of the delay; staff reported six licensing staff positions currently in place and described high turnover since the consultant's 2018 retirement.

The item as presented to the committee named TG Consulting Services and identified the subject matter expert as a former city treasury supervisor and license collector who retired in 2018. The staff report characterized the consultant as a subject-matter expert who will support configuration, testing and training for the licensing module.

A final implementation risk remains: staff said they expect the work to be completed by Nov. 2025 and did not anticipate returning for a further extension, but acknowledged delays have occurred in the past. The committee directed staff to provide further fiscal detail and oversight information in subsequent briefings requested by council members.