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Enterprise council presses for digital overhaul after multi-year problems with Tyler Technologies
Summary
Council spent its work session examining persistent delivery failures from Tyler Technologies and directed staff to pursue alternative vendors, order cybersecurity reviews, and consider a temporary project manager and steering committee to speed a city-wide IT modernization.
Council members and staff spent the bulk of a work session exploring a citywide digital transformation after repeated delays and functional problems with the city’s current vendor, Tyler Technologies. Staff said Tyler deployed servers about a year ago for the city’s new resident-access portal but has not delivered a fully functioning product; staff reported numerous errors and no reliable timeline from the company and said Tyler later quoted about $583,000 for additional modules to attain the features the city expected.
The discussion matters because the city paid for an implementation and built infrastructure intended to enable online business licensing, permitting, inspections, payments and a public-facing 311/work-order system. Staff said the city has evaluated other vendors (OpenGov, Central Square, Infor and others), prepared compatibility matrices and pricing, and has demos scheduled. Staff told council that some vendors could deliver a functional 311/work-order system by Q4 of this year with a full migration off Tyler possible within 18–24 months.
Council members voiced support for moving quickly but cautiously. Several members urged an independent cybersecurity assessment before major migrations and recommended creating a technology steering committee chaired by the city administrator with department heads, the managed-service provider and two council members. Council agreed to consider hiring a temporary, contract project manager (12 months suggested) to keep vendors and staff on task during any rip-and-replace.
The managed-service provider and staff described existing security work: monthly third-party penetration testing and an annual NIST-aligned cybersecurity assessment by an external firm (identified in the packet). Staff said those tests are running now but council asked that a formal third-party “clean bill of health” be obtained before committing to large procurements or system-wide changes.
Staff said vendors are offering end-of-quarter discounts and that staff intends to present one or two narrowed options with demos at a planned April 7 work session. The council did not take a final procurement vote at the meeting; members signaled support for prioritizing public-facing services such as online business licensing and automated customer transactions while protecting security and continuity during migration.
Council members framed next steps as: (1) continue demos and vendor evaluation; (2) present recommendations and costs to council at the April 7 work session; (3) secure an independent cybersecurity assessment and (4) consider contracting a temporary project manager and forming a formal steering committee to oversee the transition.
