The Lake Havasu City Council on June 24 approved an upgraded Microsoft Enterprise Enrollment Agreement that moves the city from its current government licensing tier to the higher G5 tier to obtain advanced security and analytics features.

City IT staff said the G5 tier provides “advanced security tools” including encrypted messaging, predictive analytics and data-loss prevention. “The G 5 model, it it basically adds everything we're looking for,” Mr. Baskett said during the presentation. He said cyber threats have become more sophisticated and that increased protections will help detect and block unusual login behavior and other cloud-based attacks.

Council member Cameron Moses moved to approve the agreement in the amount of $516,997.99 per year plus applicable taxes and to authorize the use of contingency funds in the approximate amount of $197,016.16 plus taxes for FY2025–26; the motion was seconded and passed 7–0. Mr. Baskett told council members that the biggest cost increase when moving to G5 is for security and analytics.

Council members asked about the incremental security benefits and whether the added cost is justified by risk reduction; Baskett said a single cyber incident could exceed the annual licensing delta and that AI-driven phishing and account-compromise threats make the upgrade important. The council approved the authorization for the city manager to execute the agreement and related documents.

The agreement will increase the city’s annual licensing expense; the council approved use of contingency funds for the initial fiscal-year impact.