County discusses dispatch console, district software

County discusses dispatch console, district software Brian Smith Wed, 06/05/2024 - 7:47 am Jack County commissioners discussed the purchase of a radio dispatch console for the Jack County Sheriff’s Office during its Wednesday, May 29 meeting. Commissioners agreed on the need for a new console but debated on the best way to pay for it, noting that a new courthouse elevator is also needed as well. The cost of a new console is approximately $263,000 from Motorola, Hefner said. The court discussed whether to pay for the console out of reserves or to go out for bank financing the project. Umphress said the cost for bank financing is normally 2% over the rate that is being offered for CDs, which is about 5% right now. Hefner said Motorola encouraged the county to look for other financing options besides them because of the rate. TheJCSO,whichdoes all the dispatching for not only deputies but also the Jacksboro Police Department, county fire departments, and Faith Community Hospital Emergency Medical Services, has been piece mealing with its old console for quite a while, according to Emergency Management Coordinator Frank Hefner. “Getting a new console will allow us to have more capability,” Hefner said. “Our software and console are just out of date with what is needed.” Jack County Judge Keith Umphress said in the event of having to work with other agencies in the event of a multi-county chase or a jailbreak, the current console doesn’t have the capability to patch in and communicate with other agencies. “What we’ve been doing is nothing but a Band-aid and a temporary fix,” Umphress said. “We’ve gotten the life expectancy out of the present console.” Using reserve funds forprojectsjustdoesn’t work anymore. “Reserves are for emergencies,” Umphress said. “Like when the air conditioning goes out somewhere. This is critical but not an emergency.” Umphress said he will go out for proposals on financing the console, which would come with a seven-year warranty if purchased, and get back to commissioners at a future meeting. Court looks into new software for District Clerk office District Clerk Tracie Pippin told the court she wants to change software for her office back to iDocket.com from Local Government Solutions. Pippin said the company, which her office began using in October 2023, has “overpromised and under delivered” in what it can do. Pippin said it is taking five steps with LGS to do what can be done with one step with iDocket.com. Pippin’s office used iDocket.com from 2006 to 2023 before prices became too high and in a money saving move, her office went to LGS. “Their software is antiquated,” Pippin said. “The reports they generate look like a two-year-old did them on an old typewriter. My workload has expanded exponentially with LGS.” The cost for LGS software per year is $10,479 right now and would increase to $12,000 a year with iDocket.com, Pippin said. Commissioner Henry Birdwell asked iDocket.com Chief Executive Officer Amelia Baderrama if she would consider lowering her rates to what LGS is charging and she said she would. Balderrama said the changeover to iDocket would take about two months to complete. She also wants Pippin’s office to have a month to get familiar with the software in case there are any issues.