Navasota City Council approves new ERP switch, permitting ILA and multiple contracts

The Navasota City Council voted to authorize the city manager to contract with Fundview to replace the city’s current EnCode/Tyler enterprise resource planning system and later approved an interlocal licensing agreement to adopt My Government Online (MGO) for permitting and related customer services.

Finance Director Michael Bell told the council staff expects the Fundview implementation to yield "cost savings of over $50,000 during the implementation year and over $100,000 in cost savings from year two forward," and asked for authorization to proceed with procurement. Joe Wartz, a Fundview sales representative, described the product as "an all-in-one software" that integrates financials, utility billing, municipal court and field service functions into a single platform to reduce duplicate data entry and improve real-time reporting.

Lupe Dosado, development services director, described MGO as an interlocal arrangement with the South Central Planning and Development Commission that would consolidate permitting, code enforcement, alcohol and mobile vendor licensing, public-works service requests and planning workflows in one system. Staff said the first-year price for MGO is roughly $50,000 compared with about $20,000 the city currently pays for a single-department permit system, and noted that MGO’s model provides unlimited staff accounts and a customer-facing mobile app.

Council members asked about data migration from EnCode and CitizenServe, conversion risks, cancellation clauses and staff training. Fundview’s representative said EnCode-to-Fundview conversions are common and that staff will tie out transactional history to the penny during the migration. Staff also said the Fundview procurement will be phased so modules roll over gradually to reduce operational risk.

Several other contracts and approvals were taken up during the meeting:

Votes at a glance

- Authorization for city manager to contract with Fundview (ERP) — motion moved and seconded; recorded as carried by voice vote. - Approval of an interlocal licensing agreement for My Government Online (MGO) through the South Central Planning and Development Commission — motion moved and seconded; carried by voice vote. - Resolution 837-26: selection of Strand Associates, Inc. to provide engineering services for a U.S. DOT PHMSA grant application for natural gas infrastructure — approved. - Approval of amended facility use agreement for the Mudcats swim team practice schedule (fee retained; waiver motion withdrawn after legal caution) — approved. - Approval of CSB Construction proposal for library renovations — approved. - Renewal of annual grazing lease with Mildred Wood for the old landfill grazing area — approved. - Ratification of McNair lift station repair and renovation expenditures (total reported $55,875) — approved. - Approval of agreement with KTL Engineering LLC for design, bidding and construction management services for two years of street maintenance work (proposed fee $80,000) — approved.

Councilors and staff emphasized implementing thorough conversion checks during software transitions and confirmed staff demonstrations and internal demos ("lunch-and-learn" sessions) had taken place for departments that would be affected. Staff noted the Fundview procurement would include a procurement/purchasing module intended to improve tracking of purchase orders and reduce the risk of post‑award oversights.

On the Mudcats request to waive facility fees, a council member withdrew a motion to waive charges after a legal caution that the Texas Constitution requires reasonable consideration for use of municipal facilities; council instead approved an amended facility-use agreement with a reduced fee structure recommended by staff.

Public-safety and utilities items included the ratification of emergency lift-station repairs that proceeded under an initial city-manager approval; Jennifer Reo, utilities director, presented invoices and explained the work proceeded to avoid service interruption and that payments had been held pending council ratification.

What’s next

Procurement and contract teams will proceed with the Fundview implementation and the MGO interlocal setup; staff said data migration schedules target phased go-lives to protect financial and billing continuity. The engineer agreement for street projects will let staff move forward with design and formal bidding for a two-year maintenance package.