Posted: 6/28/05
County to buy new E911 equipment
Mapping project nearly complete
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Houston County commissioners approved the purchase of new emergency 9-1-1 equipment at their June 21 meeting.
The $44,857 system replaces one that is about six years old. The countyís network administrator, Lindsay Pierce, said the new equipment is necessary because technical support is no longer available for the old one.
He estimated that it would take 30-45 days to get it up and running. The system is being purchased from Whitewater Wireless, Inc., in Rochester.
Dan Krzoska, E911/GIS coordinator, appeared with Pierce. Krozska gave a brief update on a mapping project which he has been working on in stages for a couple years. They have been working with a consultant from Ames, Iowa.
Krozska and the consultant have been creating a map of all the land parcels in the county, using geographic information systems (GIS) and the legal descriptions of land ownership from the sections and township maps.
ìBasically itís going to be a lot of stuff that the assessors do now with hand drawn paper maps,î Krozska told The Argus on June 22. ìThis is going to give us a more accurate view of what the land ownership is out there.î
Once complete, the maps will go on the countyís web site, www.houstoncounty.govoffice2.com. That way the public can view property maps without having to go to the assessorís office, Krozska said.
ìThereís over 15,000 parcels in the county, so there was a lot of mapping to be done,î Krozska added with a laugh. He estimated that it would be complete by the end of July.
The zoning and the assessorís offices have already been using the maps, Krozska said.
Commissioner Ann Thompson asked how the countyís web site was working. Personnel director Tim Comstock answered that a lot of basic information is on it, and Char Meiners from the auditorís office is posting county board minutes. Some departments are posting their own information, while others are forwarding things for Comstock to format and post. ìItís going to be an on-going process we build as we go,î he said.
The program is easy to use, he added.
Property tax system may change
Also at last weekís meeting, auditor Pete Johnson discussed a proposed change in the property tax system that Minnesota Counties Computer Cooperative (MCCC) uses.
The system calculates things like property tax values, tax capacity, tax rates, and tax distribution for the auditor, treasurer, and assessor. ìItís a big system,î Johnson said.
The price is big too. The current provider, Affiliated Computer services (ACS), has a projected 10-year cost to MCCC of $16,852,383. The system that it is considering switching to, Manatron, has a 10-year projected cost of $21,028,288, or $4,175,905 more, according to ACS figures.
The MCCC committee and its consultant have a different view. They are projecting a 10-year cost of $12,192,825 versus $17,968,818 for ACS.
The ACS system had some problems, Johnson said, which prompted some counties to leave the MCCC Tax User Group. But there are concerns about converting to the new system, he added, and many counties representatives feel the ACS problems can be fixed. ìWeíd just as soon like to work and fix it,î he said.
Houston is one of 49 counties in the MCCC. Representatives like Johnson will be voting on June 30 whether to switch to Manatron.
The Manatron system is web-based, and ACS is not, Johnson said. Ann Thompson wondered if the web-based feature would be critical 10-15 years from now. Johnson responded that ACS might migrate to that.
MCCC has a contract with ACS through 2008, but a decision is needed now because of the time involved in converting it, Johnson said.
Commissioner Kevin Kelleher said MCCC leadership needs to jump on this situation and get it under control. He and some other commissioners were upset that the deadline for voting on switching systems is coming so soon. They said they would have liked more of an advanced warning.
Carol Hauser, the countyís information systems manager, went to a demonstration on the new system on June 20. She will give a report to the board next week.
Johnson will be attending another meeting on the subject on June 23 and will update the board too. Then the board will vote on a recommendation that Johnson can use in his vote with MCCC.
New lease signed
Commissioners also approved a two-year lease with Ralph Jore and Walter Harms for the county extension service office in the Farm Service Agency building at 603 North Sprague Street in Caledonia. The cost increased from $668.85 to $771.75. This is based on an square foot increase from $9.10 to $10.50.
Commissioners said the two-year lease should work out well, because with the new jail building coming, the FSA office could move into a county building in two years.
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