The Lawrence County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 7 approved a five-year professional services agreement with Dell Financial Services to replace the county’s existing VMware-based IT redundancy system and provide backup services for administrative computers and courthouse systems.

Chad Strobel, the county’s director of public safety, told commissioners the five-year agreement totals $207,545.60 and will replace the county’s current VMware setup. Strobel said county IT staff and the courthouse IT contractor will continue to run the courthouse VMware system until that contract ends and the courthouse transitions to the new platform.

Strobel said the new Dell product will allow the county to maintain redundant systems and provide backup for the courthouse once the courthouse completes its own migration. He told the board the county declined to renew an earlier VMware contract because of high cost and that the county’s contracted IT personnel are maintaining operations during the transition.

When asked whether the commonwealth would reimburse the cost, a county official said there would be no reimbursement and that the county will cover the expense from county funds. Commissioners approved resolution 316 by roll call.

No additional implementation timeline or specific migration dates were included in the presentation; Strobel said county IT staff will coordinate with courthouse IT to synchronize migration schedules and maintain redundancy during the transition.