County OKs $150K software for clerk's office
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

The Wharton County Commissioners Court waived going out for competitive bids on a new software package for the county clerk's office on the recommendation of County Attorney Trey Maffett.

In explaining her request, County Clerk Sandra Sanders said she complied with professional services guidelines and did obtain three proposals for the package, selecting the one that best fits her department's needs.

The cost of the software is $115,244, half of which will come out of her general fund budget and half out of the clerk's records preservation fund.

The software was for indexing and scanning real property records, Sanders said, and would include the new redaction software that would automatically black out and remove vital information, such as social security numbers, from documents. It also includes a daily disaster back-up program that will store information on a nightly basis.

Maffett said while the software is a base package, the additional knowledge to make it specialized for the county can be classified as "knowledge to a professional" level.

"The exemption exists to take care of certain types of individual services," he said. "The standard is that of the knowledge needed to be an architect. For services like that, you do not necessarily go for the low bid."

Under state law, professional contracts require the submission of proposals of qualification which are reviewed and ranked. Local officials are then allowed to negotiate a contract based on the best qualified proposal.

In other actions taken by the commissioners, they voted to:

• Approved spending $800 from the contingency fund to repair the brake system for the county's environmental officer patrol car. The vehicle was involved in a minor collision, County Judge John Murrile said, because of a brake failure with the county's liability policy covering the repairs of the private vehicle involved.

• Re-appointed Precinct 4 Commissioner Jimmy Kainer to the Wharton County Central Appraisal District board of Directors for the Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2009 term.

• Authorized Murrile to sign the partially executed certification of substantial completion on Wharton County Courthouse Phase I and II.