Today’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court was mostly taken up with an update on the County’s technology.  Earlier this year the Commissioners hired Goldsmith Solutions of Austin, TX to perform a total makeover of the County’s technology systems and bring everything up to date.  Sam Goldsmith addressed the Court with a report of things accomplished and things still to be done.

Goldsmith said that from March 20 through September 20 his company had completed 847 “tickets,” or tasks ranging from low priority to critical.  Those tasks included:

*** Implementation of new firewalls and monitoring, and implementation of internet filtering and security

*** New licensing from Microsoft and Adobe

*** Moved the County web address to “dot Gov”:  browncountytx.gov

*** Deployed new fiber internet to the Courthouse and Law Enforcement Center, and wireless internet to Juvenile Probation and Veteran’s Service Center

*** Completed recycling and clean-up of old technology items

*** Reviewed all PC’s in all Departments (190 total) and developed a strategy to reduce the number of devices (number of devices will increase with adding Sheriff patrol cars to the system)

*** Software evaluation

*** Reviewed Sheriff’s Office patrol cars and worked on outfitting needs for new patrol cars

Goldsmith Solutions performed an “Information Technology Assessment” on the County’s IT systems by evaluating software, security, network, maintenance, email, continuity, and compliance. In 2022, before Goldsmith Solutions was hired, the County scored only 84 points out of a maximum of 300 points.  Today, after the work performed by Goldsmith this year, the score improved to 190 points out of 300.  The update project is far from complete.

Today the Commissioners, at Goldsmith’s request, approved several new items for the ongoing project:

*** Internet service from Resound Networks for the Juvenile Probation and Veteran’s Service Center buildings

*** A budget of $2.3 million for new IT equipment, to be paid for with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)

*** A plan to recycle 56 pieces of obsolete computer equipment, including PC’s, laptops, monitors, printers, speakers, keyboards, etc.

*** New cloud-based telephone service from a company called 8X8 for the Juvenile Probation, Veteran’s Service Center, and County Agent buildings

In other business, the Commissioners approved a request from Precinct 4 Commissioner Larry Traweek to purchase a new Wheel Loader.  The new equipment will cost $285, 810, minus a trade-in allowance of $170,000, for a net cost of $115,810, on a five-year lease contract.

Also the Commissioners received and approved a resolution from County Agent Scott Anderson declaring October 1 – 7 “National 4-H Week.”