North St. Paul approves $152,000 city hall security access system

The North St. Paul City Council on a voice vote approved a recommendation to replace failing door locks at city hall with a commercial access-control system, a project staff estimated at about $151,000–$152,000.

Fire Chief Jason Melinger, who led the vendor review and technical assessment, told the council the existing locks (some original to the 2004 building) could no longer be reliably reprogrammed and required staff to update individual locks manually. "We identified 40 doors within city hall that are a high priority to be updated," Melinger said, adding the new system would centralize administration, provide audit logs and allow for fobs and mobile credentials.

Melinger said the city is recommending an on-premises server to host the system and named Electro Watchmen as the recommended vendor; he said cloud-hosted options were more expensive in the bids the city received. He said the selected proposal included an annual maintenance fee and that some installation savings from other capital projects could cover the cost. "We had five vendors and this one provided a detailed quote and time on site," Melinger said.

Council members asked about police and fire requirements for audited access logs and whether the system could integrate with camera feeds; Melinger said the system would provide a tracked audit trail to aid evidence preservation and, where camera coverage exists, could be tied to recordings.

Melinger and staff described features designed to support security and operations: the ability to lock down or silo access for departments, assign department-level administrators, generate time-limited credentials and use mobile phone credentials, and a panic/lockdown function that would be implemented through a staff policy with police. "There's potential to tie cameras to doors so we can confirm a credential was used by the correct person," Melinger said.

City staff said the capital cost would be paid in part by savings realized when other planned security window upgrades came in below earlier estimates. Council member Schwar moved to approve the project and Council member McKenzie seconded; the motion passed by voice vote.

Next steps outlined by staff included final negotiations on contract terms (including service-term length and annual rates), scheduling installation based on vendor availability and drafting city policy for panic/lockdown and credential administration. Melinger said the city hopes to begin installation this year, subject to contractor schedule.