Waukesha Citys Information Technology Board on Nov. 5 voted unanimously to amend the citys agreement with Central Square Technologies to add a law records management system (RMS) for the police department and to hire Winborn Consulting for project oversight.

Staff introduced the amendment as an addition to an already-approved computer-aided dispatch (CAD) contract; the amendment covers the RMS statement of work and associated interfaces. The motion approved an RMS module from Central Square at a cost stated in the meeting as $926,005.69 and $0.52, and passed by unanimous voice vote.

The amendment and the oversight contract are intended to move the CAD/RMS effort from procurement into full implementation. Chris (city IT staff) told the board Central Square had provided a best-and-final offer last November that staff negotiated to have honored and that the RMS work was redlined into the existing CAD scope. Chief Thompson of the police department said the combined CAD and RMS system "is like the light blood to keeping our public and officers safe," and described the Central Square RMS as markedly improved from legacy products the department had used.

Board members discussed earlier consideration of Axon as an alternative RMS vendor; Chris said Axon initially looked promising because the police department already uses Axon for body-worn cameras and interview-room systems, but Axon ultimately increased its price beyond the project budget. Staff explained some previously planned third-party interfaces will be removed or re-scoped as part of the Central Square amendment and that an Axon-to-Central-Square evidence interface is included where required.

Staff described the implementation approach as a single "big bang" cutover involving both CAD and RMS workstreams. Chris said the estimated implementation timeline is 14 to 18 months and that the city will provision roughly 45 servers to support CAD and RMS, including SQL clusters and read-only/archive databases. The board heard that Central Square keeps about six months of data in the live production database and pushes older records into a read-only archive; historical data from legacy systems (including Phoenix and converted AS/400 exports) will be migrated into the archive so long-running or open cases remain accessible.

On a separate but connected item, the board approved a not-to-exceed $238,120 contract for oversight project management with Winborn Consulting. Staff said Winborn has prior experience with public-safety system implementations and that an initial base oversight scope is about $120,900; the higher not-to-exceed amount includes optional blocks of additional services. The motion to approve the oversight scope passed unanimously.

Both approvals are funded within the project budget, staff told the board; Chris said the original capital project estimate in the citys CIP was $3,000,000 and staff do not expect to exceed that figure based on current estimates for interfaces and optional services.

Votes at a glance:
- Amendment to agreement with Central Square Technologies to include a law RMS module: motion carried unanimously; amount stated in the meeting $926,005.69 and $0.52.
- Oversight project management scope with Winborn Consulting (not to exceed $238,120): motion carried unanimously.

The board requested staff continue to refine implementation objectives and governance, and to return to the board with updates as the project moves toward testing and go-live milestones.