Waukesha City Information Technology Board approves 5-year website contract with Revise

The Waukesha City Information Technology Board on Dec. 4, 2024 unanimously approved a five-year extension of the city website contract with vendor Revise, keeping annual fees at $5,900 and scheduling a site refresh for early 2025.

The vote came after Communications staff Andrew Noffke outlined the extension and terms. Noffke said Revise has managed the site for nearly four years and offered to hold pricing at the current rate: “5,900 each year for 5 years.” He told the board the agreement includes a refresh of site content and layout in the first half of 2025 and that there are no changes to the level of service described in the initial contract.

Why it matters: the website is the city’s primary public information portal, and the extension aims to preserve continuity of service, a scheduled refresh, and vendor support during spikes in traffic. Noffke said the vendor also agreed to waive bandwidth limits in emergency situations so the site would not be shut down by a surge in visitors.

Board members questioned technical limits and staffing. A committee member asked whether the stated 6 gigabytes of storage and 100 gigabytes per month of bandwidth have ever been exceeded; Noffke replied, “We have never gotten close to that,” including during a recent parade-related surge in viewers. Noffke also said Revise maintains four active servers in the continental U.S. for redundancy and provides 24-hour support, with some offshore resources available if needed.

Noffke clarified timing and billing: the original contract ran August-to-August, but billing was moved to a January cycle; under the approved extension the contract will run January 2025 through January 2030. He told the board the contract had already been reviewed by the city attorney’s office before it reached the board.

IT staff member Greg deferred to communications on the procurement details but confirmed the IT team’s support for keeping Revise in place, noting the vendor’s responsiveness to support requests. Board members also discussed cost comparisons with hiring an in-house web developer and local vendor options; Noffke said Revise’s model has been more cost-effective for the city to date.

Board member Mr. Breuder moved to extend the contract with Revise for five years; Chair Mr. Fabian seconded the motion. Chair Mr. Fabian called for the ayes and noted the motion passed unanimously. Chair Mr. Fabian said the extension will be placed on the next city council agenda in about two weeks.

The board briefly covered routine communications items, including whether to observe a year-end change freeze for major updates, then discussed scheduling of the next meeting before adjourning at 06:15.