Commissioners promote jail administrator, sign IT contract

FARMINGTON – Commissioners approved a new contract with a information technology company and promoted a jail administrator at Monday’s meeting.

The county hired a new system administrator, Jim Desjardins, in April. Franklin County had decided to manage IT services, ranging from personnel email to county servers to the IMC program used by first responders, within the county. Previously, those services were hosted in Somerset County and managed by Somerset IT.

In the first part of a two-phase project, Desjardins arranged for the installation of servers capable of hosting the IMC programs, after determining that Franklin County’s existing equipment was insufficient. A new network and new email system were provided to county staff as part of this phase.

The second phase of the project is to bring IMC to the county. As part of this, Desjardins recommended employing Systems Engineering, a Portland-based company that has assisted the county in the past. That company would provide the software support and monitoring for county systems, as well as critical care in case Desjardins was unavailable. Systems Engineering would also have replacements that could be rapidly shifted into place if a server or other piece of equipment went down in Franklin County.

The service would cost $17,000 annually. Systems Engineering agreed to defer the county’s initial payment until July 1, 2016, as the current fiscal year’s budget does not include funds for the contract. The work the company does up until 2016 would be provided without compensation.

Commissioner Charlie Webster suggested putting the service out to bid. Desjardins indicated that few companies could provide the service in western Maine, and that Systems Administration was already familiar with the county’s system.

Webster and the other commissioners agreed to enter into a contract with the company for 2016, then reevaluate and put the service out to bid at the end of the year.

Commissioners also reviewed the purchase of licenses for two programs associated with IMC. Both would allow the software to be accessed by dispatchers and law enforcement. The total cost of those licenses was roughly $5,400. Commissioner approval was not necessary, as funds to buy the licenses were included in the IT department’s budget.

In other business, commissioners approved the promotion of John Donald of Wilton to assistant jail administrator at the Franklin County Detention Center. Donald, who previously served as a jail supervisor, was hired in 2004.

Previously, commissioners approved the addition of the assistant jail administrator position, which was eliminated when the jail went to a 72-hour holding facility in 2009. With the full-service jail now in operation, Sheriff Scott Nichols previously said, Jail Administrator Doug Blauvelt needed assistance with state-mandated paperwork associated with training, payroll, inmate services and uniform care throughout all four jail sections.

FCDS maintains an average inmate population of 32 prisoners a day.