Finance committee recommends Tyler ERP contract and hires Plant Moran consultant amid data-use questions

At its March 17 Finance and Personnel Committee meeting, Middleton members voted to recommend that the City Council approve a software-as-a-service agreement with Tyler Technologies for an enterprise resource planning system. The packet lists a one-time fee of $612,300; annual recurring fees were listed in the packet but include typographical errors and are not specified in the transcript.

The committee also recommended that the council authorize an amendment to engage Plant Moran as the ERP implementation consultant for an amount not to exceed $190,000 for an initial 15-month phase. The two approvals were advanced by voice vote.

Why it matters: The ERP project centralizes city finance, human resources and utility billing systems; staff said the city anticipates multi-year licensing and an implementation phase that will require oversight by a steering committee and named functional leads.

Data sharing and privacy concerns dominated committee questioning. One member flagged a section of the vendor contract that says, “Your data will be inaccessible to our other customers,” and asked staff to confirm how Tyler intends to use deidentified data for demonstrations or training. The committee pressed whether that deidentified-data clause could allow Tyler to use Middleton’s data with third parties; staff said they will seek clarification on the reference to third parties and noted deidentified data is commonly used for testing and demonstrations during implementation.

Committee members also asked about the contract’s breach-notification and liability language. Staff said negotiations substantially raised Tyler’s proposed cap from an original proposal tied to the annual fee to what was described in the meeting as the “greater of $500,000 or one-half times the fees paid,” language staff said gave them more comfort than the original cap. Staff also said the city negotiated indemnification and limitation-of-liability language during the review process.

Other implementation details addressed by staff included return-of-data provisions on contract termination and the project governance structure. Staff said the city expects the executive sponsor role to sit with the city administrator, that the city administrator would be the escalation point for contract negotiations, and that the staff member serving as the city’s overall project manager would oversee day-to-day implementation. Staff identified prospective steering-committee participants by name: Casey Radkkey, human resources manager; Lori Burns, city clerk; Dave Tolman, acting IT manager; and Sarah Wild, utility billing manager.

Motion and vote: Committee member Senairo moved to recommend council approval of the Tyler agreement (mover identified in the transcript as “Senairo”); the record does not show a named second for that motion. The committee advanced the recommendation by voice vote.

What’s next: The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the full City Council for final approval and any contract signature as required. Staff said they will follow up with Tyler for clarifications on deidentified-data use and confirmation about data removal or retention if the city terminates the agreement.

Quotes from the meeting: “Your data will be inaccessible to our other customers,” a member quoted from the vendor agreement while pressing for guarantees about third-party access. Staff summarized the negotiated liability language as the “greater of $500,000 or one-half times the fees paid.”

Ending: The committee advanced the contract and consultant engagement to the council; staff will return with clarified contract language and implementation assignments before final council action.