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Water utility approves $695,416 cloud billing system amid data‑sharing questions
Summary
The Voxewater Utility Commission approved a Harris Computer cloud-based billing upgrade with $695,416 in initial costs and an estimated 2026 annual maintenance of $98,441; commissioners pressed staff about vendor residency, long-term price caps and whether customer data could be used for AI training.
The Voxewater Utility Commission voted Oct. 21 to approve a cloud-based upgrade of its customer billing system from Harris Computer, authorizing an initial expenditure of $695,416 for software, implementation travel and API integration and noting a projected 2026 annual maintenance and hosting cost of $98,441.
Courtney, the utility presenter, said the upgrade replaces an aging on‑premises Harris CIS version 3 that the utility reverted to after a failed 2022 implementation by another vendor. Courtney said the conversion to Harris v5 includes licensing for 20 concurrent users, a migration to a city-hosted SharePoint, and a REST API to support integrations such as the utility’s existing online payment processor. "We are asking for approval of the Harris computer advanced utility billing software proposal to provide Waukesha Water Utility cloud‑based billing software with initial cost of $695,416," Courtney said.
Commissioners pressed staff on operational and contractual details before the vote. Commissioner Paul asked whether other Wisconsin utilities use the same Harris version; Courtney said Manitowoc runs a recent version and Pewaukee had moved to a different vendor and struggled. Commissioners asked about the vendor’s origin (Courtney said the company operates from Canada but serves many U.S. sites) and whether the contract contained limits on future price increases; staff said the vendor offered a three‑year price freeze but did not commit to a long‑term cap beyond typical annual increases.
Several commissioners raised data‑privacy questions tied to cloud hosting and artificial‑intelligence (AI) models. One commissioner requested that the city contract explicitly forbid the vendor from using utility billing data to train external AI models and that the agreement include specific language protecting customer‑identifiable information. Courtney said the city’s IT team completed a vendor security questionnaire and staff would follow up to clarify contractual language.
Supporters of the purchase said the modern system would reduce recurring manual work and allow field crews to record work in the truck and have inventory and accounting updates flow automatically, enabling future process improvements that could save staff time. Courtney and other staff also argued the vendor responds to issues and that the utility’s familiarity with Harris would make the transition easier than switching to a less‑proven system.
The motion to purchase the Harris cloud solution passed on a voice vote with no recorded objections.
The next step is finalizing contract language with the city’s IT and legal teams to ensure data‑use and security protections are in writing; staff said they will return with follow‑up information and implementation scheduling.
