MANSFIELD — Richland County commissioners on Tuesday approved spending $15,225 for employee badges and key fobs as part of a previously-approved $1 million security upgrade at five county-owned buildings.
The unanimous vote came during a meeting with Richland County Auditor Pat Dropsey and Matt Hill, who works in the auditor’s office as the county’s IT director.
In 2023, commissioners approved spending a portion of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act on the security project that includes new security cameras and doorway access systems, along with the software to accompany the hardware.
Hill told commissioners it was time to order the badges and fobs as the county nears completion on security upgrades at the Longview Center, home of the county Board of Elections, and also the Richland County Dog Warden & Adoption Center.
“We are real close on the Dog Warden of going live with the new security system. (Schmidt Security Pro) is currently wiring Longview. We’re trying to get Longview done before early voting starts (Feb. 21).
“Once that starts, we can’t do anything in the Board of Elections areas. So we’re trying to get the whole building just completely done. Tthen we’ll be moving to the (Richland County) Prosecutor’s Office, but we are making pretty good speed. They were also downstairs looking at Clerk of Courts and getting that added to the system, as well,” Hill said.
Commissioner Tony Vero jokingly asked if a “two-factor authentication (along) with an 88-character password to get into the building” would be required.
Hill said, “You better make sure you have your badge or your fob because you’re not getting in if you don’t have both. You’ll have to have a badge and a pin number during off hours. (During weekdays from 8 to 4 p.m.), the building’s open.
“This is gonna replace everybody’s badge and everybody’s fob account,” Hill said.
Hill said he hoped to have the entire security project complete by June.
Vero said the cost of the project has gone about 10 percent over its original $1 million budget.
“I (now) show the exact cost at $1,109,510.08,” he said.
Hill said the cost of the computer servers used for the video cameras had risen to about $125,000, about $50,000 more than originally estimated.
“I believe the model of server that we were looking at was end of life. Dell doesn’t tell tell their customers when stuff is necessarily end of life all the time. So we had to go up a model number and. of course, anything that’s new is more expensive,” Hill said.
