Wayne County Council OKs more than $350,000 for scanning, body cams

RICHMOND, Ind. — Wayne County Council authorized expenditures totaling more than $350,000 for a records digitization project and the sheriff's purchase of body cameras.

The unanimous approvals were given Wednesday night during the monthly joint council/commissioners workshop.

This digitization project involves scanning and digital storage of clerk's office records currently occupying two courthouse basement rooms. It's a pilot program to test how the scanning process works before the county considers the much larger quantity of overall clerks records, plus other departments' documents.

Commissioners on May 11 received proposals from SBS Portals, ArcaSearch, Ricoh, Friends Office and MP Digital. The estimated costs ranged from $95,384 to more than $1.3 million.

During their weekly meeting Wednesday morning, commissioners selected SBS Portals of South Bend and MP Digital of Worthington, Ohio, as finalists and referred the proposals to Clerk Debbie Berry and the IT department, asking for each to provide a recommendation by the May 24 meeting. Commissioners plan then to select a vendor.

SBS Portals' proposal included a cost of $130,790 based on its estimation of how many pages from the two rooms need scanning. The cost included $119,900 for scanning and set up, plus additional licensing fees for two years. SBS, however, will cap scanning and set up costs at $125,990 in case their estimated number of documents is significantly lower than the actual total.

MP Digital's proposal estimated a cost of $114,770 that included $102,145 in scanning fees at 8.75 cents per page. There is no cap if the estimated page count is lower than the actual number.

Commissioner Ken Paust told council Wednesday night that the IT department had already recommended SBS Portals as the preferred vendor. He said the MP Digital proposal involved two other companies that would make communication more difficult and required some local code be written.

Berry initially brought the scanning project to commissioners after consulting with SBS, which has previously worked with other Indiana county clerks.

Council authorized spending up to $130,790 — the higher proposed amount — from its contingency fund. That enables the commissioners to immediately move the project forward after a vendor, whether it be SBS or MP Digital, is selected.

Council also approved spending $225,460 from the contingency fund for the sheriff's department to purchase 60 body cameras. A grant will reimburse $48,000 to that fund, paying $800 per camera.

Sheriff Randy Retter had proposed the body camera purchases May 4 to commissioners and council members. The primary two options differed only in the length of warranty purchased. The 60 cameras with a three-year warranty would have cost $200,560 minus the $48,000 grant.

At that time, Retter recommended the five-year warranty purchase. On Wednesday, commissioners also recommended to council the five years.

The 60 cameras would be distributed to all 32 patrol officers, seven courthouse security officers and six school resource officers. The remaining 15 cameras would be shared by jail officers during their shifts and by the jail's SERT team.

Make My Move

Council also Wednesday authorized President Beth Leisure to sign the Make My Move interlocal agreement with the city of Richmond and the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County.

The city, EDC and county are partnering on a $240,000 project to attract remote workers to the area. To initiate the project, each entity is contributing $20,000 that will be matched by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which will contribute up to $120,000 overall.

The commissioners had already approved contributing $20,000 from their $100,000 county EDIT allocation and authorized the EDC contribute $20,000 from the consolidated EDIT fund.

A committee is working to develop the incentive package that will be offered to those considering relocation. The benefits' expenses are expected to include private as well as public contributions.

Council member Cathy Williams said it seems wrong to try and attract remote workers when county employees are not offered the opportunity for remote work. She realizes that some county jobs could not be remote but urged commissioners to consider allowing remote work for jobs "that don't see the public day after day after day."

Projects

The county continues to move forward on repair and renovation projects.

A pre-bid meeting for repairs to the courthouse exterior was conducted May 17 with four companies attending. A fifth company expressed interest by phone. Bids are due June 8.

As part of that project, landscaping will need to be removed around the courthouse to provide equipment access to make the repairs. Steve Higinbotham, the county's director of facilities and development, said the landscaping has been a topic during security meetings, as well, because it blocks security cameras and provides hiding places. Those issues will be considered when replacing the landscaping after the repairs are completed.

Bids are due June 22 for the project renovating courthouse bathrooms, which will make them Americans With Disabilities Act compliant.

The county will also spruce up the shower building at the Wayne County Fairgrounds prior to the Wayne County 4-H Fair. Higinbotham said the building will be cleaned up and painted and that extra temporary showers will be added.

Gumball machines

Do you want your own a gumball or candy machine? You might soon have your chance.

Higinbotham asked for guidance Wednesday about gumball and candy machines stored in the annex building's lower level. The county covered the machines when COVID-19 first struck, then removed them from county buildings when the pandemic persisted.

"What do I do with 30 gumball machines?" Higinbotham said.

Calling phone numbers listed on the machines has not led to contact with the companies that own the machines. Most of the machines indicate they are raising funds for Lions Club projects and The Arc of Indiana.

Ron Cross, the county's attorney, recommended that new attempts to contact owners be documented. Then, after a couple of weeks, the machines can be considered abandoned and the contents emptied. Change taken from the machines should be put into a special auditor's account for the time being, Cross said.

The machines then can be included in the next county auction.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Wayne County Council OKs more than $350,000 for scanning, body cams