What Costa Mesa is about to decide

The Costa Mesa City Council meets for a study session at 5:00 PM on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 in the City Council Chambers, 77 Fair Drive, in person and via Zoom webinar. The posted agenda carries a single study-session item and no consent calendar, public hearings or closed session. These are pending discussions from the posted agenda — not outcomes, and no vote is listed. Every item links to the official record.

Source: official agenda (PDF) · meeting page · staff report · Written comments: cityclerk@costamesaca.gov by 12:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting

💻 Study session: the IT Strategic Plan, Phase II

• What the council is asked to do: “receive staff presentation on the proposed Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP) Phase II (Attachment 1) and Implementation Roadmap (Attachment 2) and provide feedback for consideration,” per the agenda. Information Technology Director Steve Ely presents; the plan was prepared by ThirdWave Corporation, which will present its findings (presentation). The documents: the final ITSP and the Implementation Roadmap, both dated September 8, 2026. Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• Where Phase I stands: the 2020 plan identified 21 mainly software projects; “Of the 21 planned projects, 15 have been completed successfully,” including TESSA, mobile data computers for Police and Fire, and Office 365, per the staff report. The six still in progress are the Enterprise Resource Planning system (finance, HR/payroll and budget), a review/study of the Computer-Aided Dispatch/Records Management System (CAD/RMS) for public safety, prerequisites for an internet phone (VoIP) project, an enterprise GIS master plan review, disaster recovery, and a Laserfiche project that was “Redirected to Council Chamber Audio Visual.” Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• What Phase II covers: per the staff report it is “a continuation of the 2020 plan with an emphasis on hardware and infrastructure,” with 30 planned and 34 to-be-determined projects. The consultant’s outreach drew 261 responses to a community survey. Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• Top findings named in the staff report (not in priority order) include: the city’s uninterrupted power supply (UPS) for the City Hall Emergency Operations Center and Police Department “is coming to end-of-life and will no longer be supported in two years. If the City Hall UPS fails, the City’s systems and services will stop working”; data storage (SAN) at the Police Department is “more than six years old” and City Hall’s is five years old; Laserfiche, the records system “implemented 11 years ago,” “remains underutilized”; Public Works tracks capital projects in Excel; the city’s 311 and maintenance work-order systems “do not communicate”; and for people starting a business, “Business information is entered into Excel or not being captured, resulting in lost leads.” The report also lists a Police Department review of Real Time Information Centers and a need for more IT staff with public-safety expertise. Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• Artificial intelligence: the staff report says AI “surfaced repeatedly” and that the council “expressed interest in such technology to improve efficiencies in city operations.” The general recommendation is that end users and IT staff “evaluate AI features as part of all future technology deployments” and that the city “promote an AI strategy, including clear business objectives.” Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323

💰 The money, per the documents

• Where the funding would come from: the Capital Asset Needs ordinance, updated in 2020, includes an annual commitment of “1.5% of General Fund revenues towards citywide technology needs,” deposited in the IT Replacement Fund (Fund 603). Per the staff report, “As of June 30, 2026, the unaudited fund balance in Fund 603 is approximately $9.9 million,” and funding for the six remaining Phase I projects, “in the amount of $6.5 million, is fully accounted for.” The remaining funds plus the annual 1.5% allocation would go toward the 30 planned and 34 to-be-determined projects. Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• The staff report’s five-year funding table (Table 1) lists “Total Funding” of $16,503,117 — $15,921,567 from the 1.5% set-aside and $581,550 in repayment of a prior-year deferral. On the expense side it lists “Implementation & Integration” of $10,079,480 and “Staffing Costs” of $5,438,448 over the five years, plus “Other Equipment” of $585,189 in FY2026/2027. Staffing covers “three (3) existing FTE’s, plus two (2) additional FTE’s: a Public Safety Application Analyst proposed in FY 2029/2030 and a TESSA Application Analyst proposed in FY 2030/2031.” Staff say the roadmap’s budget figures “are only preliminary estimates”: “Exact costs cannot be determined until the formal procurements are conducted and bids are received.” Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• The biggest line items in the consultant’s budget (Roadmap, Figure 3.2.1, $1,700,000 a year in Years 1–4, $1,699,990 in Year 5, and a five-year total of $8,499,990): Public Safety Mobile Data Computers, $1,000,000 (Year 2); City Hall Enterprise Servers Replacement, $1,050,000 (Year 3); PD Enterprise Server Replacement, $700,000 (Year 2); HP core network switches for City Hall and for the Police Department, $500,000 each (Year 1); Citizen Request Management, $575,000 (Year 5); Laserfiche Expansion & Adoption Plan, $450,000 (Year 4); and Dispatch Systems, $400,000 (Year 3). The City Hall EOC and PD UPS is budgeted at $225,000 in Year 5. Other Year 5 items include AI Tools ($200,000), a Business Opening Application ($43,000) and City Council Initiative Tracking ($60,000). The roadmap calls these “gross level of effort estimates” that do “not represent a price quote.” Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323
• Waiting for funding: the roadmap’s seven highest-priority to-be-determined projects total $5,350,000, led by CAD Redundancy ($2,550,000) and a VMware Redundant Server Farm ($1,500,000), both including maintenance; the lower-priority list totals $5,961,250. That list includes a “CAD System ($3,000,000 already budgeted)” and a Real Time Information Center “(to be determined),” both shown at 0. Study Session Item 1 · File 26-323

Two figures for the same five years: the staff report’s narrative says the 30 initiatives total “approximately $8.5 million,” matching the roadmap’s $8,499,990, while the report’s Table 1 lists “Implementation & Integration” at $10,079,480 for FY2026/2027 through FY2030/2031. The report does not explain the difference. Both appear in the posted documents; Council Brief does not resolve the discrepancy.

🪑 Also on the agenda

• Call to order, roll call and adjournment. No other business is listed on the agenda.
• Council listed on the agenda: Mayor John Stephens; Mayor Pro Tem Manuel Chavez (District 4); and Council Members Mike Buley (District 1), Loren Gameros (District 2), Andrea Marr (District 3), Arlis Reynolds (District 5) and Jeff Pettis (District 6). Staff listed: City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow and City Manager Cecilia Gallardo-Daly.
• Public participation, per the agenda: speakers get up to 3 minutes in the chamber or via the Zoom “raise hand” feature; written comments received by 12:00 p.m. on the meeting day go to the council and become part of the meeting record.

Council Brief summaries are produced from official public records by our automated newsroom and reviewed before publication. Items are described as posted; the council may amend, continue, or remove items at the meeting. Spot an error? hello@councilbrief.com — we publish corrections.