County continues infrastructure upgrades

WALLACE — The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners continued their technological overhaul of the county courthouse and approved the second in a four-phase plan to get the building’s technological infrastructure up to date.

Earlier this year, the BOCC approved Phase 1 of the project which began updating some of the software that is used throughout the courthouse.

Phase 2 will consist of upgrading the county’s server system, as well as the Computer-Aided Instruction software.

Commissioner chairman Mike Fitzgerald confirmed the approval, while explaining why the changes are important.

“We evaluated options associated with Phase 2 of the four-phased plan to move the county's computer system into the future,” Fitzgerald said. “The BOCC decided to move forward with Server Upgrade Option 2 and CAI Software Upgrade Option 1. The CAI level of technical support is to be evaluated and decided on post CAI software installation.”

As mentioned, the BOCC was presented with multiple options to choose from, but decided to go with the less expensive Option 2 for the server upgrade.

Instead of getting brand-new servers, the county will save $10,000 by utilizing refurbished versions of the most current servers, which come with the same level of warranty as their brand new counterparts.

These servers (two in total) will cost the county $16,000, but there is an $8,000 cost for a technician to set up the servers (whether they were purchased new or refurbished), bringing the cost of the servers to $24,000.

The CAI software that was approved will allow all of the county offices with the exception of the external county works offices to enter information on a secure platform, instead of the current system that leaves the county vulnerable to security breaches.

Fitzgerald explained why the software is important for the county to continue running efficiently.

“The CAI software is the county's core software for county financial planning, general accounting, bill paying and annual budget submittal to the state.”

The CAI software will cost the $8,000 up front and then an annual fee of $4,000, for a total of $12,000.

Phase 2 will cost the county $38,000, and will be implemented this summer.

The approved phase will bring the county completely up to date with the completion of Phase 2 with respect to performance of essential county functions.

The later phases move the county forward in implementing other efficiencies (e.g. seamless interdepartmental billing and record keeping).

Much like the recently redesigned website, the former infrastructure was simply too old to manage and was beginning to simply not work.

“The county has fallen off the pace with technology. This has placed the us in a position of incurring problems in completing many state required functions: court scheduling and record keeping, appraisals, tax collection, budgeting and general county administration,” Fitzgerald said. “In a nutshell, the state required software has outpaced or aged hardware to the point that without the upgrades many of the county’s duties are either no longer supported or, in some cases, can no longer be performed.”