Finance committee adds dollar amount and backs 5‑year Cisco maintenance deal for New Haven schools

Adam Marsham, chair of the finance committee, opened the public hearing and introduced LM20260101, a five‑year maintenance and support agreement for Cisco network equipment for the Board of Education.

Michael Simeone, chief technology officer for the city and the Board of Education, told the committee the contract covers phones, voice software, core routers, wireless access points, endpoint protection and disaster‑recovery server support. Simeone said negotiations produced what the materials describe as about $632,000 in savings over five years—roughly $130,000 a year—and that the agreement will support roughly 3,200 phones, several major routers, 2,251 wireless access points, 3,450 endpoints and other licensing and remote‑access services.

Committee members pressed staff on whether the city could have shopped for lower prices, where the annual payments would come from and how the multi‑year cost appears in the fiscal impact statement. Simeone said Cisco‑branded maintenance often requires manufacturer licensing and that replacing the installed base would be a multimillion‑dollar capital expense; he added that the school system times some replacements to E‑rate funding cycles that can reduce costs substantially when available. He also said the fiscal‑impact notes show $515,000 charged to a capital account for the coming fiscal year and that finance has assigned capital accounts for later years.

During deliberations members proposed an amendment adding the five‑year total to the resolution. The committee amended the order to state the five‑year total of $2,576,309.05, the amendment passed by voice vote, and the item as amended received a favorable recommendation. The transcript records voice votes and no roll‑call tallies for the final recommendations.

What happens next: The committee forwarded the amended resolution with the dollar amount to the full board with a favorable recommendation; members asked staff to return with clearer budget‑line mapping showing which years and accounts will fund the multi‑year commitment.