On March 25 selectmen hired Expenet Technologies of Farmington to provide IT services for the departments located in Farmington Municipal Building, seen in December 2024 and others. File photo/Livermore Falls Advertiser

FARMINGTON — Selectmen on Tuesday night, March 25, voted to contract with Josh Michaud of Expenet Technologies, 145 Main Street, Farmington, to manage IT services.

Town Manager Erica LaCroix said five companies had submitted proposals with three of them being interviewed. The goal is to move from a reactive to a proactive approach, she stated.

“They were all very strong,” she noted. Other companies interviewed were SJ Rollins of Bangor and Harbor Digital of Topsham. The other companies had bells and whistles that came with a big price tag, she said. “Part of the reason they have more of those is that [Michaud’s] clientele has not asked for some of the things we were asking for,” she stated.

Michaud and his team are more than capable and have a much more reasonable proposal, LaCroix said. If the server needs to be replaced, there will be money left in the budget to do it this year, she noted.

“I am looking forward to this,” Michaud said. He has had the business since 2011, started it as a graduate right out of college with his business partner and has been going strong ever since, he stated.

Selectman Scott Landry noted he had known Michaud a long time, his wife cared for him in her daycare.

“What’s your staff turnover,” Selectman Richard Morton asked.

Michaud replied he hadn’t had a turnover in over a year. “On the commercial side, we’ve had our team a solid two to three years,” he stated.

Expenet is a small business, every small business is different, Michaud said. “A lot of the bigger guys, they have their set services they offer with a much higher price tag, but for us it’s much more personalized, and we’re able to conform that personalization to the needs of whatever business requests our services,” he stated.

LaCroix said being small would be a benefit, staff will get to know all the people servicing the account rather than having a different person show up every time.

Morton asked if there were other reasons in addition to the need to replace outdated computers.

LaCroix wanted a company that’s actually monitoring the town’s network for threats. The current provider backs the server up, will check the network when notified of an issue, she said. There’s no ongoing monitoring of what’s going on and in today’s security environment, she didn’t think that was adequate.

LaCroix also wanted somebody to manage inventory and make suggestions as to how things could be streamlined or get further efficiencies. There was no warning on the Windows 11 upgrade that is coming, LaCroix doesn’t know how many computers will comply. “We could get a surprise,” she stressed.

The contract is for a year, a report will be shared at that time, Morton verified with Michaud.

“The MSP [managed service plan] contract is kind of a new style of service for us,” Michaud explained. “We’ll be looking at this from a yearly standpoint. We’re kind of hoping the town will help guide us. Typically for businesses starting on this, you will sit down with our primary contact after a year, make some adjustments.”

With the MSP style contract an IT forward mentality is provided, Michaud said. Time will be built in to help move the town forward, he noted. Expenet can identify things that may not be the most efficient, the town can decide if it wants to keep doing it that way or move to suggested options, he noted.

The man responsible for the county’s IT came from Expenet, LaCroix stated. Farmington is going to have to work closely with the county regarding the new computer dispatch system that’s being implemented, she said.

Farmington is losing efficiencies because it can’t get glitches fixed and there are some security protocol issues to address, LaCroix stated.

She verified the contract price for the year was about $13,000.

After the meeting Lacroix said the other companies offered some software with their proposals. “Even with the included software, Expenet was almost $10,000 less,” she noted. Mileage would also be charged by those companies, she added.

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