McLean County approves push to expedite Munis ERP rollout; hires Sanford Hess Consulting for project support

McLean County’s Executive Committee on May 5 approved a resolution directing expeditious implementation of the county’s contracted Munis enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Tyler Technologies and approved a part-time consulting contract intended to support that rollout.

County staff said the implementation has begun but that internal staffing constraints threaten schedule and budget. Mr. Nelson, a county staff member who presented both items, said the county lacks a full-time internal project manager and has limited programmer capacity; the board voted to ask elected and appointed officials to encourage staff participation to keep the project on schedule.

“There is significant investment in this project,” Mr. Nelson said, and staff requested committee backing to ensure timely participation from departments. The committee approved the resolution by voice vote (motion by Member Abel, second by Member Layman).

To supply project management hours, the county issued an RFP and recommended Sanford Hess Consulting. Mr. Nelson told the committee the county received three proposals, including one from Barry Dunn (which had previously advised on the ERP) and another from a Texas-based firm that did not include on-site hours. Sanford Hess Consulting proposed some on-site time (roughly 20% on-site was requested in the RFP) and has prior experience with Munis implementations in the region; the committee approved the consulting contract (motion by Byrne, second by Abel).

Staff said the consultant will assist with scheduling, technical oversight and keeping the implementation on track; the county also has one internal programmer and has temporarily assigned a previously-held part-time position to provide technical support. No dollar amounts were specified in committee discussion.

Both items were approved by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the committee transcript.