County moves budget‑amendment public hearing to Sept. 9 to fund courthouse server replacement

Auditor and county staff informed the Jackson County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 19 that the county’s courthouse server has reached end‑of‑life and will require replacement, prompting the Board to reschedule a public hearing on a fiscal year 2025‑26 budget amendment.

Staff said the server — described as a courthouse a400 server in the presentation — no longer receives vendor patches and that the server’s tape backup drive is obsolete. The auditor told the Board that replacement was not previously budgeted and “buying a new server is not cheap.”

Because the purchase will require a budget amendment, the Board voted to rescind the public hearing scheduled for Sept. 2 and set a new public hearing for Sept. 9 at 9:00 a.m. Staff said formal publication and additional details about the proposed amendment will follow. The auditor and IT partners are working with vendors (including IBM, per staff discussion) to specify comparable replacement options and quote costs.

Supervisors asked whether the end‑of‑life date was fixed and staff replied that they had recently been told the vendor sets a December 31 end‑of‑life date, clarifying that the server can no longer receive security patches. The Board asked staff to provide detailed cost information ahead of the Sept. 9 hearing; staff said they will.