Hoover council OKs $1.1 million for 1st phase of $2.1 million computer software system

The Hoover City Council on Monday night agreed to spend $1.1 million to pay for the first phase of a $2.1 million project to upgrade the city’s primary computer software system.

The council also agreed to pay $234,000 in first-year maintenance fees for the software program, with that amount to go up to $546,000 per year by fiscal 2024 as the program is expanded to other departments in the city.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato had asked for this project to be included in the city’s 2020 budget when it was passed in September, but City Council members at that time removed it from the budget and said they wanted to hear more about why it was needed.

City Administrator Allan Rice and about a dozen city employees from various departments during a Jan. 16 council work session spent more than an hour explaining how the new software program would help their departments.

Rice said the project is not so much about new computer software as it is about “total business improvement for the city of Hoover.”

Chief Financial and Information Officer Melinda Lopez said the city currently is operating with software from 1994.

Finance Director Tina Bolt said the new software, to be provided by Tyler Technologies, will do a lot to streamline workflow, implement best business practices, improve service to the public, enhance communication between city departments, eliminate waste, reduce costs and expand government transparency.

Mindy Wyatt, an applications systems specialist who served as the project manager for selecting the software the city wants to acquire, said the new software program will affect every department in the city.

Employees are ready for a change, and people, companies and agencies that interact with the city are challenging the city to modernize its processes, Wyatt said.

“We cannot continue to deliver today’s services using yesterday’s technology,” she said. “We believe in what it [the new software program] can do for our day-to-day jobs, but ultimately we believe in what it can do for the city.”

Jim Wyatt, the city’s interim chief operations officer who formerly was head of the Building Inspections Department, said he has changed software programs four times in his 42-year career and twice before worked with the software the city is buying now. The new software is superior to what the city has now and will benefit not only city employees but the many entities that do business with the city, Wyatt said.

Bill Wilder, a recreation superintendent with the Parks and Recreation Department, said the new software will greatly improve transactions with the public, such as online registration for parks and recreation programs and communication with people participating in various programs, including emergency communication during inclement weather.

Revenue Director Frank Lopez said the new software will improve online processes for businesses seeking business licenses or paying taxes, allow for better interaction with other government entities and save time for employees in the revenue department, helping reduce the need to hire additional people.

Aaron Calvert in the city’s Information Technology Department said customer service support for the current software program is declining. It’s taking longer and longer for the current software provider to address problems, he said.

Tyler Technologies has multiple ways to seek support and is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Calvert said. Also, the company has multiple customers in Alabama, so there is a statewide group of people to consult when issues arise, he said.

Amber Salter in the Human Resources Department said she used this new software program for four years in Cullman. It was a painful transition to switch to it, but it was amazing to see the impact the new system had and was worth the pain, she said.

Councilman Mike Shaw, the chief technology officer for Mutual Savings Credit Union and the council’s technology expert, said $2.1 million is a lot of money to spend, but after hearing employees’ testimonies about what the new system can do for the city, it’s obvious that it is needed.

The council will need to budget the other $1 million in one-time start-up costs for another year. Melinda Lopez said conversion to the new software program will occur gradually over the next four years.

In other business Monday night, the council:

• Gave permission for Verizon Wireless to put a temporary communications facility at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex during the 2020 and 2021 SEC Baseball Tournament.
• Amended the 2020 budget to provide $50,000 for the Hoover Police Department to buy devices that automatically turn police officers’ body cameras on whenever an officer’s gun is drawn from its holster.
• Agreed to renew the lease at the Hoover Public Safety Center for the National Association of School Resource Officers for five years. The association plans to spend $100,000 renovating its space in the near future to both refresh its existing space and create more room to hire two more employees, said Mo Canady, executive director of the association. The association moved its national office to Hoover in December 2010.
• Gave approval for the Central Alabama Artist Guild to hold a Patton Creek Art Festival at the Patton Creek shopping center on March 7.
• Gave approval for Cross Creek Church to put a modular building on the campus of Lake Crest Presbyterian Church at 560 Lake Crest Drive for use for Sunday school classes. The two churches share a facility there.
• Created a new zoning category called a Legacy Single-Family Residential District that can be used to give older neighborhoods flexibility in meeting certain zoning regulations, such as required setbacks. The idea is to provide some flexibility so people can renovate and modify older homes that were built prior to the city’s adoption of zoning regulations or prior to the homes being annexed into the city, City Planner Mac Martin said.
• Introduced an ordinance that would both allow and regulate horse-drawn carriages. The council likely will vote on that ordinance at its March 2 meeting, Council President Gene Smith said.