North Adams committee probes $140,000 IT storage project, $55,000 Microsoft 365 costs and cyber risk

The North Adams Finance Committee spent a substantial portion of its meeting examining the city’s information technology budget, where officials said aging storage and rising subscription and cybersecurity costs are driving a larger ask in the capital and operating budgets.

Mayor (Chair) introduced Mark Pearson, the city’s IT director, who said the IT office is a two-person operation that manages financial, public-safety and departmental software and is leading a multi-year migration from legacy systems to Munis. “This includes the day‑to‑day applications to the city,” Pearson said, describing the office’s scope and the impact of the 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment included in the proposed budget.

Pearson told the committee the city’s primary on‑site storage is full (about 15 terabytes) and that backups and recovery capacity are inadequate. He described a $140,000 project to replace primary storage and add reliable off‑site backups, saying the package is intended to address both storage and backup performance rather than represent an ongoing annual increase. “Right now we have on‑site storage that is very old. We need to get rid of it,” Pearson said.

The panel also discussed a planned migration to Microsoft 365 to consolidate email, storage and identity services. Committee materials and Pearson’s remarks put the estimated recurring cost for Microsoft 365 subscription and related cybersecurity tooling at roughly $55,000 annually to cover user licenses and protections, though Pearson said some current, one‑time project costs are expected to be offset by municipal technology funds and future savings on third‑party services.

On legacy finance systems, staff reiterated that the city must retain parts of KBS and Springbrook for historical data access during a phased move to Munis, a costly but necessary dual‑running period. The mayor and Pearson noted that Munis was financed as a capital purchase and that annual maintenance and conversion costs will continue through fiscal 2028.

Several council members pressed for clarification on what would be one‑time project costs versus ongoing line items and urged care in describing technical security details in public. Councilor Devoski expressed concern about the scale of the IT operating request but acknowledged the city is trying to get “caught up” after years of incremental investments.

Pearson and the mayor also warned about the operational risk of a successful cyberattack; Pearson said the city’s police, fire and other critical services would be materially affected if systems were taken offline, underscoring the financial and public‑safety rationale for investments in backup and cybersecurity.

The committee did not take a final vote on IT spending but flagged the $140,000 storage project and the Microsoft 365 recurring expense for further review as the budget process moves forward. The council will see the recommended budget and any offsets from municipal technology funds in later materials.