COUNTY COMMISSIONERS DISCUSS PROBLEMS WITH PUBLIC SAFETY SOFTWARE

  

There was more discussion about the switchover to the Zuercher Public Safety software at this (Tuesday) morning’s county commissioners meeting.  911 Dispatch Director Kristy Taylor told commissioners that the problems are not 100 percent corrected, but progress is being made and that management with Zuercher will be on site in Brenham to observe the issues in a few weeks.  She said it’s clear that the county has their attention now. All of the public safety entities in the county switched over to the new software provided by Zuercher Technologies in March and problems with it were immediately noticed. EMS Director Kevin Deramus said that they have installed the Zuercher mobile operations app on their smart phones and iPads and that it’s working well, but it cannot be used on the mobile data terminals in the EMS units.  County Commissioner Kirk Hanath said that Zuercher should have to purchase iPads for all of the EMS units if the county ends up having to have them to get the turn by turn mapping that was promised with the software.

In other action, commissioners canvased the results from the May 5th Special Election. County Clerk Beth Rothermel said that 13.34 percent of the county voters turned out for the special election, which is higher than expected.  She said there is a lot of confusion among voters between the special election and the May 22nd Primary Runoff.  She pointed out that there is no connection between the two.

Commissioners approved the purchase of a Compact Track Loader for the Road and Bridge Department.  The skid-steer loader will be purchased from Washington County Tractor – Kubota division through the State Approved Purchasing Program.  Commissioners also approved a land division for a property on Hohenwalde School Road.

Today’s (Tuesday’s) meeting was short two commissioners.  Commissioners Joy Fuchs and Luther Hueske are attending a conference in Frisco.  That left County Judge John Brieden and Commissioners Don Koester and Kirk Hanath with just a quorum for the meeting.  They voted to reschedule next week’s meeting to Monday at 9:00 AM instead of the usual Tuesday time.  Brieden said that the state will be conducting a workshop on Community Development Block Grants on Tuesday and the Commissioners Court is wanting to attend to learn more about applying for the grants.