County commissioners met on Tuesday morning to address two agenda items.
Nina Cox, County Auditor, opened discussion regarding the request of approval to purchase new computer archival equipment called UDO Archive Appliance Express. This equipment would replace the now overloaded storage unit purchased in 2002 which crashed because the backup had too much on the main server. This was the first time since 2002 that the existing equipment malfunctioned.
The new UDO Archive Appliance will have 170 gigabytes of memory and one UDO2 drive, with back-ups stored on CD. The cost of the unit is currently $13,744. The longevity of this unit was said to be able “to take us through our lifetime”, according to Barbara Shields from the County Clerks office.
County Judge Ray West asked if there were any other options of equipment to consider. Another unit was named which costs $29,000, making the UDO Archive Appliance a better option.
The current budget still has ample amount of money, $67,000 left in the equipment budget to cover the expense. Judge West also asked if there was a budgeted amount for computer replacement, which was answered by an explanation that there is a computer maintenance amount budgeted but not replacement. The UDO Appliance quote was given by NetData, who will do the installation and set up for free due to the current maintenance agreement the county currently has with NetData.
After a short pause for any further questions or discussions, the commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of the UDO Archive Appliance.
Commissioners then moved to the next agenda item, consideration of approval of installation of a utility line on CR 334 by the Zephyr Water Supply. This was briefly addressed by Richard Gist, Commissioner for Precinct 3, then the court unanimously approved the installation of the utility line.
Gist also mentioned some work done recently by the county on a flood control dam which was pretty extensive, equivalent to $41,000 worth of work. Gist further noted that state representatives had expressed their appreciation to the county for the success of this program.
The next commissioners court meeting will be held on Monday, February 8th. The National Weather Service will be making a presentation to Brown County as a “Storm Ready Community”.
