ASHLAND – County commissioners signed off Thursday on a contract to provide new software and hardware for the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office.
The $334,648 contract with Zuercher Technologies is part of a project to upgrade the technology system for the entire agency, including the jail and dispatch divisions.
“This will upgrade our jail management programs, our evidence processing programs, our civil process program and our CAD (computer-aided dispatch) program for dispatch,” Sheriff E. Wayne Risner said.
Risner said in some cases, his office is still using “antiquated” systems from before the Ashland Justice Center opened.
The sheriff called the Zuercher suite of products a state-of-the-art system that will be able to keep data from any case together, from the initial call or traffic stop to any next steps, such as arrest, evidence collection or jail booking.
“Right now it’s kind of a piecemeal thing. We can do it, but it’s a separate entity and it’s a harder way to do things,” Risner said, adding that it will also help the agency keep track of chain of custody for evidence.
County commissioner Jim Justice noted the package includes extensive training for sheriff’s office staff as they transition to the new technology.
“That excites me,” Justice said. “I’ve played with some systems, but if you can’t use them right, what good does it do you?”
Commissioner Mike Welch said the county leaders considered using three or five-year loans to pay for the upgrades. They decided instead to fund the project using the county’s capital improvement fund.
“I’m not real fond of having debt, and I think that’s the right thing to do for the county,” Welch said.
In addition to the Zuercher contract, the project will include approximately $160,000 in other upgrades for the dispatch center, according to Risner. That figure includes things like rewiring, new carpet and new furniture. The entire upgrade process could take up to a year, he said.
Meanwhile, commissioner Denny Bittle said, the City of Ashland is asking with Zuercher to provide a cost estimate to replace the city’s Sundance software with Zuercher software to make the technology the police and fire departments use compatible with the county’s software. City officials are considering leaving the Wooster-Ashland Regional Council of Governments, which dispatches for Ashland, Wooster and Orrville, to rejoin the county’s dispatch center.
In addition to the Zuercher contract, commissioners also approved a grant agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to acquire 28 acres and build a road at the Ashland County Airport. The FAA would fund 90 percent of the $400,000 grant project, while the state and the county would each pay 5 percent. The project will help the local airport meet new federal requirements to own a safety zone and an approach zone near the airport’s runway.
Bittle said the project would not provide adequate land to expand the runway enough to accommodate corporate jets, but he would like to see the county acquire more land to do so in the future.
Commissioners also unanimously passed a resolution opposing Issue 1, a proposed amendment to the state constitution that will appear on the November ballot.
