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Clinton County Government’s IT Director, Ernie Jackson, speaks to the board of commissioners on Monday morning about varied objects that can be up for choice at its voting session on Thursday.
LOCK HAVEN — Clinton County residents ought to quickly have the aptitude to buy canine licenses on-line.
IT Director Ernie Jackson spoke to the Clinton County Board of Commissioners on Monday throughout its work session relating to the web fee together with different IT objects.
Jackson stated the county has finished analysis into the web fee technique after the Pennsylvania Senate handed Bill 764 of 2023, requiring all counties to supply a web-based service to buy licenses for dogs.
Jackson stated, after analysis and dialogue with county Treasurer Michelle Kunes — whose workplace handles canine license funds — his suggestion is to enter right into a contract with Fairfield Computer Services, LLC out of Oakwood, Ohio.
“The fee for it, if we go with their standard template, is $0. There is a $100 per hour labor charge if we do anything outside the standard template,” he stated.
According to Jackson, the usual template contains the shape, an image of the treasurer, county brand and basic county info.
“There is a convenience fee that would be charged to whoever wants to utilize the online service,” he stated. “The fee does not get charged back to the county, it’s to the user.”
Jackson stated, if accredited by the commissioners throughout its voting session on Thursday, arrange for the location would “fairly simple.”
“It looks like it would take about two days to set up, test and verify that everything is functioning properly,” he stated. “We should have no problem meeting the Feb. 1 deadline, which is outlined by the Senate Bill.”
Jackson additional famous the funds can be funneled to the treasurer’s workplace, the place it will be accounted for and despatched to the state.
“(The money) would be sent to the treasurer, she would fill out her reports and then the money would be forwarded to the state,” he stated.
Minimal coaching can be essential to make the most of the system, he added.
Other IT associated objects that can be on the commissioners’ agenda contains:
— A renewal with Cisco Duo Multi-Factor Authentication at an estimated cost of $15,000. Jackson stated the county used the corporate’s system in 2023 and has all its multi-factor authentication by it. This 12 months, Jackson stated the county must develop its utilization.
“We need to expand that to include our email functionality,” he stated. The enlargement wouldn’t get in the best way of direct utilization of county-owned cell telephones however will make the utilization of county emails outdoors of its system “a little more complicated.”
Jackson stated the county must develop its multi-factor authentication to incorporate signal processes for the Department of Emergency Services communication middle, particularly these on the dispatch consoles; together with sheriff’s personnel and staff on the correctional facility.
“That comes from the feds, the criminal justice system is requiring that anyone that has direct access to law enforcement information have multi-factor authentication to access their device,” he stated.
— Renewal of county web site internet hosting service. Jackson stated his division is searching for approval to proceed a contract with Granicus — an organization that’s “one of the big players in governmental website hosting.”
“They have been our agency now for three or four years,” he stated. “We’ve had virtually no down time… we’ve had two instances over the last three years where the site was down for about a half an hour while they rebooted their servers.”
The cost for the renewal is seeing a 5 p.c improve, which was budgeted, and involves $4,862.03.
Jackson stated his division has been in talks with Granicus to barter some superior companies within the contract. This would come with consolidating its on-line funds for varied county companies.
— Potential buy-out of a leased copier within the IT Department. Jackson stated the division’s copier has been on a five-year lease, at $960 per 12 months.
“Since that lease is ready to expire, there was a Fair Market Buy-Out at the end,” he stated. “We would like to proceed with purchasing the equipment and not leasing something new or buying something new.”
Jackson stated the cost of the buy-out and tools buy would come to about $932.49.
The board will meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25 within the second flooring assembly room of the Piper Building, 2 Piper Way, Lock Haven. The assembly will even be dwell streamed on the county’s Facebook web page — Clinton County Government.
