Public Safety Communications: System Redo is Expensive

City Council will consider spending $2.5 million to replace a public safety system they approved replacing at $1.5 million in December 2014.

The last two Capital Improvement Plans described the project:

The San Anglo Police Department’s public safety software suite, including computer aided dispatching (CAD), records managements system (RMS) and mobile computing has reached its end of life. The current software suite will no longer be supported for maintenance, upgrades and fixes and as such is no longer compliant with criminal justice information systems (CJIS) rules and regulation.

The replacement of the current system consisted of a comprehensive evaluation of the needs and functionality assessment, development of a Request for Proposals, extensive evaluation and selection process and final vendor selection. Project should consist of: Computer Aided Dispatching Software (CAD), Records Management System (RMS), Mobile Computing Software, and various Hardware Upgrades.

The expected completion date for the CAD/RMS system is April 29, 2016. Some systems and hardware will shortly follow the final implementation of the Spillman software. Final completion of this project should occur by September 2016. Annual maintenance is already being paid under the current system. There are no significant changes in the costs associated with this upgrade. annual maintenance and support have traditionally been included in the regular operating budget of the PSC center.

Funding Source:  2015 Certificate of Obligation of  $1,500,000

Oddly, at the time Council approved the Spillman Technonogies project they considered a document that compared Spillman vs. the cost to upgrade with Intergraph Public Safety.

The city chose Spillman and stuck to their guns, defending the choice in last spring's Strategic Planning Session, despite running into problems that required more budget dollars.  Last year Police Chief Tim Vasquez stressed to Council:

"If you give Jeff a chance he'll finish this and show you the solution and cost that's affiliated with that.  Again, our $1.5 million is way under budget....  We are working very well with this company....  If you let Jeff finish...."

Spillman is finished.  The city's staunch defense is over.  In Tuesday's council meeting staff will return to the Intergraph upgrade option.

Combined the city will have borrowed $4 million for one project, the $1.5 million that did not work and the planned $2.5 million replacement of the replacement.  This issue arose as a crisis in a Strategic Planning Session at Old Fort Concho.  It's now a financial disaster for a city squeezing every penny to maintain public services and meet its contractual obligations to police officers.

Update 3-20-17:  Nearly two days after this report the Standard Times ran a story on this debacle.   City Manager Daniel Valenzuela tried to dance away from this but the buck stops at his desk.

Update 3-22-17:  San Angelo Live reported on this debacle as well.  One might expect the too many steps for workflow or dispatching an officer could have been determined during a site visit in the selection process.  The City issued its press release absolving the City Manager and purchasing department of any responsibility.  SAPD got sold a bill of goods.  One has to wonder why the city's vendors fail and the city ends up suing them.  The list includes:  2013 Sealcoating Program Contract,  Templeton Construction, Inc.,  Alsay, Inc. and now the Spillman Contract. 

Update 3-3-18:  City Council will take up the $150,404 annual maintenance contract for Intergraph in the March 6th meeting.  Last year the city paid $145,662 when it hired Intergraph to replace the failing Spillman system.