Commission tables $1.14M IT disaster‑recovery proposal, schedules special meeting

City information‑technology staff presented two responses to a request‑for‑proposal to replace the city’s aging data center and strengthen disaster recovery. Heartland Business Systems proposed a Nutanix‑based on‑premises design with cloud replication at a five‑year lease‑purchase cost of about $1.14 million; staff recommended Heartland as the lower‑cost, full‑capacity solution.

Why it matters: The city’s public-safety systems (in‑car and body cameras, dispatch, records systems) generate high storage and compute demands. Staff said the current system is out of vendor support and lacks security updates; a major hardware or software failure could risk extended downtime for critical services.

Commissioners pressed staff and vendor representatives on licensing costs, the tradeoffs between cloud hosting and keeping data on‑site, funding source (public‑safety sales tax), and the urgency of replacement. One commissioner asked for a hands‑on demonstration, training plan and a clearer itemized comparison with the alternative vendor. Heartland and Nutanix representatives described migration steps, incremental upgrades and local support commitments.

Decision and follow-up: Commissioners voted to table final approval and scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. to receive a fuller demonstration and Q&A; staff said pricing is expected to hold through the next meeting but advised acting promptly to avoid supply‑chain or price exposure.

Next step: Staff will provide a demonstration, training overview and a more detailed cost comparison at the Dec. 17 special meeting before the commission takes a final vote.