Flathead County to adopt CARPEL case-management software, approves startup funding

Flathead County commissioners approved a capital-improvement amendment and authorized signature on a contract to replace the county attorney's current eProsecutor case-management software with a product called CARPEL.

The change, moved and approved at a commission meeting, covers a one-time implementation and data-conversion fee plus an ongoing annual subscription. Travis Ahner of the county attorney's office told commissioners the county currently pays about $64,000 per year for eProsecutor and would pay $58,000 per year for CARPEL, with an up-front implementation and data-conversion payment that the office described as about $54,000 to $70,000 spread across installments.

Why it matters: Ahner said the office has spent substantial staff time working around functionality and integration problems with the existing system and that CARPEL is used by roughly two dozen other Montana county prosecutor offices, which the office described as improving vendor responsiveness and reducing the risk of one-off fixes. Ahner also said CARPEL offers more storage and enhanced notification features that could partly substitute for direct victim-advocate work.

Key details and discussion: Ahner said the eProsecutor contract renews annually and expires in December 2025; the office asked for the county to cover the startup fees so the switch could be timed to avoid a gap in service. Office administrator Sherry Howser said CARPEL's go-live is planned for July and that the county would have an approximately five-month overlap with the existing vendor because the current vendor would not accept a month-to-month renewal.

Howser told commissioners the county's current eProsecutor agreement contains no warranties guaranteeing remedies for the ongoing problems, and that some custom features in Flathead County's current system were built by engineers who are no longer with the vendor.

Ahner and Howser also discussed integration limits: CARPEL does not directly integrate with the state court filing system (FullCourt) or the public defender platform, and Ahner said direct court filing via CARPEL is not presently available though other counties reported CARPEL was useful for discovery workflows. Howser said CARPEL's discovery features would reduce staff steps for sharing documents with defense counsel by eliminating repeated password expirations.

Budget and staffing implications: Ahner said the office has not posted a victim-advocate position for about seven months and is budgeting for the role in case the software does not meet notification needs. He said vacancy savings from that unfilled position are roughly $60,000 and the office would not rely on eliminating the position unless CARPEL met the notification requirements in practice.

Formal actions: Commissioners voted to (1) approve a CIP amendment to cover the case-management software change and (2) sign the CARPEL software contract for the county attorney's office. Both motions were moved, seconded and approved on voice votes at the meeting.

What happens next: The county attorney's office will proceed with implementation steps and the startup payments described to the board; the office will handle data conversion and implementation planning before the planned July go-live.