Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the CAD RMS topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee accepts $1 million COPS grant to subsidize CAD/RMS replacement; IT director outlines staffing and cybersecurity plans
Summary
The finance committee approved a $1,000,000 COPS technology grant to help replace the city's CAD and records system; IT leaders described a multi-stage RFP and week-long vendor demonstrations and proposed bringing two contracted IT roles in-house through an internship pipeline to reduce long-term professional-services costs.
The Waukesha City Finance Committee unanimously approved acceptance of a $1,000,000 COPS 2024 technology and equipment grant to subsidize the city’s multi-department Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management System (RMS) replacement.
Assistant Chief Tom Wagner told the committee the CAD/RMS project is part of a roughly $3 million capital request for the multi-department replacement effort; the COPS grant will specifically subsidize the police/public-safety portion. IT Director Chris Pofall described the procurement: the department received multiple RFP responses, invited three vendors for week-long demonstrations with multi-person teams, then moved into best-and-final-offer phases to refine costs and functionality. "Just to get the RFP drafted you know, was almost a year's worth of work," Pofall said, and added the demonstrations included specialists showing mapping and records functions.
Pofall also outlined IT staffing and cost-savings measures tied to the FMP. The 2025 proposal includes 2.35 additional FTEs—a PC technician and a network administrator—to bring two contracted roles back in-house. He said the city plans to partner with WCTC for an internship pipeline so students can staff the PC tech role on a revolving basis, reducing professional-services spending and eventually folding security monitoring and other contracted work into city oversight. "So bringing on that network administrator position, I have 2 staff. We're gonna jumble around some roles and responsibilities and we're gonna take that security monitoring, bring that in house," he said.
Committee members pressed about costs and whether software licensing (including citywide Microsoft licenses) and multiagency interfaces were included in the figures; Pofall confirmed those contracted services are centralized through IT and cover Microsoft licensing for city users, CAD/RMS, camera systems, the financial system and other critical platforms.
Motion to accept the COPS grant was made by Alderman Piper and seconded by Alderman Lemke; the committee approved the acceptance by voice vote. The city will use the funds toward the CAD/RMS replacement project and continue procurement steps, including vendor demos, BAFO evaluation and implementation planning.
