Lawrence stormwater board approves CloudPoint managed services contract for GIS support

The Lawrence City Stormwater Advisory Board voted to approve an ESRI/CloudPoint managed services agreement that city staff say will host and support the municipal GIS platform needed for a new stormwater inventory.

Renee Rafla, director of public works, told the board the contract covers implementation and ongoing managed support — not the purchase of new GIS software — and that the agreement is prorated to expire Dec. 31 of this year. "This is for our GIS system," Rafla said, and she listed the total contract amount as "$27,800," which she said will be split three ways among water, sanitary and storm.

Board members asked how CloudPoint was selected and how support hours will be billed. Rafla said staff consulted the authors of the platform, evaluated two providers and chose CloudPoint because its services best met the city's needs and the cost was lower. She described an initial purchase of 50 support "credits" that will be used during implementation and will expire annually; additional hours can be purchased at the vendor's published rate.

Before voting, the chair asked for a correction to the contract signature date; Amber Finley (who clarified record details on behalf of the city's representative) confirmed CloudPoint's signature page shows July 29 but that the board could enter the effective date. A board member moved to approve the agreement with the corrected date and a second followed. The chair called for the ayes and declared the motion passed unanimously.

Rafla told the board that Lawrence Utilities will present the same agreement to the Utility Service Board the next night for that board's portion of approval and that city work on the managed services will not proceed until utilities' approval is complete.

The board also approved the April 27, 2026 minutes at the start of the meeting and adjourned after the United Consulting task order vote.