BIDDEFORD — On Tuesday, the Finance Committee voted unanimously to change the city’s email service provider from a Google-owned company to Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Prior to the vote, Jerry Gerlach, the city’s IT director, detailed the problems the city has been having with its current email provider and the changes to come.

The city ”“ including its police and fire departments ”“ has been using an email service provider called Postini for email archiving and spam filtering for the better part of a decade, said Gerlach, and in 2013, Google purchased Positini and promised certain features that the city relies on would not be lost.

But the Silicon Valley tech giant didn’t live up to its promise, said Gerlach.

“We’re still (having) technical difficulties that they can’t seem to resolve,” he said. “So, it’s time to move on from Google and go to a provider that can offer us the features that we need and the quality that we need.”

Gerlach said once the decision was made to cut ties with Google’s email services, he worked with William Gooch, the IT director at the Biddeford Police Department, to find a system that would satisfy both the needs of the city and its police and fire departments.

They decided on Barracuda, which is also headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley.

According to the company’s website, Barracuda “offers industry-leading solutions designed to solve mainstream IT problems ”“ efficiently and cost effectively ”“ while maintaining a level of customer service and satisfaction second to none.”

The city already uses Barracuda for Web filtering, said Gerlach. A Web filter ”“ also known as content control software ”“ restricts what websites a user can visit on his or her computer.

“We’re very familiar with (Barracuda’s) tech support, with how they operate, and we’ve been very pleased,” said Gerlach. “It seems like they have some great products.”

The city has agreed to a three-year deal with Barracuda for $13,963.94, he said, and half of that amount will be paid by the police department.

Once Barracuda starts providing the city with email services, the city will need to continue working with ”“ and paying ”“ Google for its email services for a six-month period, explained Gerlach. This is required by the Freedom of Access Act, which is a law that guarantees people access to public government records, he said, which can include old emails.

Barracuda will be providing the city with two terabytes of data for email archiving. That amount of data should be sufficient for storing tens of millions of emails.

“We get hundreds of thousands of emails a month, so it adds up quickly,” said Gerlach.

Committee member and City Councilor Clement Fleurent said he had spoken with the police department, which has been “having trouble with lost emails,” and it “highly recommends” the change to Barracuda.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].