County employees spar over technology conversion

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

With anticipated expenditures listed at $230,825, Henry County?s IT department is looking to cut costs for fiscal year 2014. However, the discussion that occurred during Thursday morning?s board of supervisors meeting led to an argument between courthouse employees.

?I?m disappointed,? said County Treasurer Ana Lair. She and County Recorder Shirley Wandling attended IT Director Derek Wellington?s fiscal year 2014 budget presentation to discuss the possible conversion to a new provider and system for their documents and records.

Lair and Wandling were not happy about the idea. The two found out about the planned discussion on Wednesday and seemed to believe a decision had already been made without their knowledge or involvement.

?I should not be left in the cold about it,? said Wandling, noting she has been in the office for 40 years and that she always does the work to the best of her ability with the public in mind. ?I don?t appreciate anybody going behind my back.?

Lair told the board she failed to see why this ?movement? to switch was initiated without contacting the two offices involved.

?It?s not a movement to switch,? said County Auditor Shelly Barber. She explained that Wellington came to her on Wednesday when finalizing his budget. He noted that it was really high and that the supervisors ?would have a fit.?

Wellington has budgeted $230,825 for fiscal year 2014, which Supervisor Vice Chairman Marc Lindeen commented was ?significantly higher than we?ve ever had.?

Wellington explained that it happened to fall that this year most of the county?s servers are due to be replaced, which accounts for the increase in expenditures.

His budget originally listed expenditures at $241,825; however, it was decided on Thursday morning to wait a year to replace the secondary road department?s server, which would save the county $11,000.

Switching the two offices to a new system with Solutions, rather than ImageTech, would also save the county money.

?I?m just presenting numbers,? Wellington told Lair and Wandling, noting that no decision has been made.

Wellington said that making the switch would cost only $318 per year in maintenance, rather than over $9,000 per year. As the county already has a maintenance agreement with Solutions, the treasurer and recorder?s offices would be added onto the existing agreement.

Those numbers, however, were inaccurate according to Lair. The email that Wellington was presenting to the board showed the cost of for 100,000 documents. Lair said that as of yesterday, the treasurer?s office has over 250,000 documents, which would make the cost higher than what was written in the email.

Wellington explained that the 100,000 was being used as a reference point, not meant to represent the exact cost to Henry County.

With tensions high between Lair, Wandling and Wellington, Lindeen stepped in to put a stop to the argument, as it was getting nowhere.

?We have made no decisions, we?re just discussing,? explained Lindeen.

Lair argued that the two vendors? Solutions and ImageTech ? should also be involved in the discussion.

?We?re talking one vendor (Solutions) and letting them give us info about the other vendor (ImageTech),? said Lair, noting that some of the information provided by Wellington about ImageTech came from Solutions. However, Wellington noted he has also been in contact with ImageTech.

Lair said she was not against conversion to a new system, as long as it meets certain criteria such as that the integrity of documents is maintained, that support is readily and immediately available and it makes the best use of tax dollars.

She also said it was important that all entities are involved in a discussion and that the county is not comparing apples and oranges.

Wandling, however, was adamantly against conversion.

?I don?t think a conversion is the answer, because you?re opening up a whole other can of worms,? said Wandling.

She referenced issues with other counties that underwent a conversion and some records were lost in the transfer. This leaves the county open to lawsuits. So, she said, although the county may save money in maintenance fees, it may pay over that amount due to a lawsuit.

Wellington noted that anytime information is transferred to a new system ? such as with the new server planned for the upcoming fiscal year ? there is a chance that records will be lost.

Moving forward, the supervisors will be looking to meet with Solutions, ImageTech, Lair, Wandling and Wellington to discuss the issue.

?We are not doing our job if we don?t have a discussion,? said Lindeen.

In other business, the supervisors:

? Heard a budget presentation from the auditor?s office

? Approved a resolution to hire Cara Ferguson as a part-time receptionist in the attorney?s office. Previously this position was a full-time position.

? Appointed Klay Edwards to the loan review committee for the revolving loan fund.