TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Dr. Douglas J. Hewett, ICMA-CM, City Manager
FROM: Dr. Andrew Mansell, Senior Assistant to the City Manager
DATE: June 22, 2026
RE:Title
Authorize the City Manager to Sign the SoundThinking Contract RenewalTitle
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COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
ALL
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
GOAL I: The City of Fayetteville will be a safe and secure community
Executive Summary:
Staff requests City Manager authorization to execute a one-year renewal of the City's contract with SoundThinking for its acoustic gunshot detection platform (ShotSpotter). The contract expires September 27, 2026, with a 30-day notice of renewal or non-renewal due by August 26, 2026. City Council received the Project Team's administrative report on May 11, 2026, which presented the full findings of the Wilson Center's independent evaluation alongside the Project Team's contextual analysis and operational enhancements. Funding for the renewal year is included in the adopted FY2027 budget. SoundThinking has offered two renewal options at $225,000 per year: a one-year term or a three-year term billed annually. Staff recommends the three-year option, which locks in the current rate and allows the enhanced data collection framework to develop over a more meaningful analysis period.
Background:
The City of Fayetteville entered into a contract with SoundThinking - then operating under the ShotSpotter brand - in 2022, with coverage commencing September 26, 2023, across three zones in the Campbellton, Central, and Cross Creek districts. These zones were selected due to their disproportionately high rates of gun violence relative to their geographic size: between January 2019 and March 2025, the three zones accounted for approximately 11.9 percent of citywide gunshot-related incidents despite covering only 3 percent of the City's land area.
At City Council's direction, a cross-functional Project Team - comprising the O...
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