Oakland approves website/ADA services, hydrant maintenance and software renewals

Oakland officials voted to award three vendor contracts affecting town operations: a new website and ADA-compliance platform, a three-year renewal of Brightly software for work orders and inventory, and a three-year hydrant maintenance contract.

Town Manager Tom Ellis said the website proposal includes a one-time setup and annual fees (staff cited roughly a $6,500 setup plus a recommended first-year budgetary allocation of about $10,000 for a total near $16,500). He said the town needs improved tools to provide accurate, ADA-compliant public information and to centralize social-media postings. Ellis noted staff have attended ADA seminars and that municipalities of the town’s size face active legal risk if they do not address accessibility.

The board also approved a three-year renewal with Brightly Software to manage work orders, inventory and asset tracking used by water, wastewater and public works; the first-year amount was presented at about $15,220 with modest increases in years two and three.

For fire hydrant maintenance, staff reported three proposals and recommended Rogers Hydrant Service — the low, local bidder — to perform a true-flow test for every hydrant in year one (a five-year task) and annual flushing in subsequent years. The fire chief said the detailed reports (including GPS coordinates and flow rates) support the town’s ISO rating and can help keep homeowners’ insurance affordable. The board approved the hydrant contract and software renewals by voice vote.