Board approves telecom and IT contracts; county reports interim director appointment and grant application

WEXFORD COUNTY — The Wexford County body approved two contracts during the meeting and county staff reported administrative appointments and a grant application related to 911 operations.

A motion to replace AT&T plain‑old‑telephone‑service (POTS) lines and authorize the chair to sign on behalf of tenants passed on roll call, 8-0. The motion described a monthly cost of $434.55. Roll-call votes recorded “Yes” from Nayan, Benjamin, Bush, Seagullen, Vaughn, Potter, Nelson and Taylor.

Separately, the board approved a three‑year Chief Information Officer (CIO) legal-practice management system proposal at $28,622.88 annually; the motion passed by voice vote after a motion, second and an “all in favor” call.

In the administrative report, county staff said the deputy director, Travis Baker, had been appointed interim director until the county can fill the position permanently; the position has been posted internally and externally, staff said. Staff also reported that auditors will arrive next week and that the county submitted an application for the V8 grant after earlier being told it could not apply because a letter of intent had been missed. County staff credited the county’s new 911 director for persistent follow-up that led to the application being accepted.

Staff also described an internal training demonstration in which employees explored artificial-intelligence voice cloning; county staff described the exercise as a way to teach employees how to verify requests and avoid being misled by synthetic audio.

No motions affecting the county budget or staffing complement were recorded during the meeting minutes provided; the AT&T and CIO contract approvals were the formal board actions documented.