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Council approves Central Square CAD contract for police, fire and dispatch; staff warn of hardware costs and long rollout
Summary
After extended discussion and operational Q&A, council unanimously approved a contract with Central Square for a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. Staff said implementation will take 18–24 months, the software will run on premise, and additional hardware costs (a new server and virtualization) are estimated at roughly $200,000–$250,000.
The Waukesha Common Council unanimously approved a contract with Central Square Technologies on Tuesday to replace the city’s aging dispatch software and modernize CAD capabilities for police, fire and EMS.
An IT representative (speaker 5) told the council the project originated in the 2022 capital improvements plan and that the procurement included demonstrations and a formal scoring process across police, fire, EMS and IT. "This project was approved back in 2022 as part of the 2023 capital improvement plan," the presenter said, and staff described a rigorous vendor-evaluation process involving multiple subject-matter experts.
Police and fire leaders said the modern system will provide more reliable data to support deployment decisions and other analytics. "What this current CAD will offer us is reliable data and more tools and ability to use that data to make intelligent decisions about the deployment of our resources," said Police Assistant Chief Ty Hoffman (speaker 17).
Council members asked about testing and whether the software will run in a cloud environment. Staff said the system will run on premise and that implementation will include testing in a nonproduction environment before a single cutover. They also flagged noncontract hardware needs — a new server and virtualization platform — estimated in discussion to cost about $200,000–$250,000; those costs are part of the overall CIP budget but not in the Central Square contract line item.
Staff estimated an 18–24 month implementation timeline; the contract includes fixed pricing for years 1–5 with modest increases later. Council approved the contract contingent on completion of outstanding exhibits and appendices.
What happens next: Staff will finalize exhibits and begin implementation planning, including procurement of required hardware and staging for test environments. The city expects an 18–24 month rollout from implementation start to cutover.
