Sussex County Council on July 22 approved a three-year addendum to the county's Esri enterprise license agreement (ELA) at a flat rate of $190,000 per year.

Megan Nierboss, senior GIS manager for Sussex County government, told the council the ELA supports the county's public and internal mapping tools and multiple interagency integrations. "We get about 25,000,000 hits a month," Nierboss said, adding that the current infrastructure delivered roughly 99.8% uptime and that the county has been a state and regional leader in GIS work.

The council approved the contract extension by motion: Councilman Riley moved to approve the addendum and Councilman Lloyd seconded. The motion carried by affirmative votes recorded on the meeting floor.

Nierboss described ways the county uses Esri products across departments and with partner agencies. She said the county uses an online public map viewer, field-to-office mobile applications included in the ELA, and integrations with other county systems such as Munis (financial/permits), the county's 9-1-1 platform, and permit trackers used with DelDOT. She cited the county's use of GIS during a recent tornado response as a demonstration of interagency value: Nierboss said Sussex County worked with the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and FEMA to compress weeks of work into about 48 hours during damage assessment and declaration processes.

Council members asked a brief set of operational questions, including whether public-facing map data can be audited for misuse. Nierboss said public-facing map content sits in a demilitarized zone (DMZ) intended for public access and noted questions about access monitoring are primarily an information-technology security question handled by county IT.

The ELA renewal will be purchased using the state contract vehicle the county uses for Esri software. The council's motion authorizes the county to extend the Esri ELA for three years at $190,000 per year.