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Scurry County approves workers' comp alliance, boosts cyber coverage and begins Windows upgrade planning
Summary
Commissioners voted to join a workers' compensation alliance and to raise cyber insurance from $500,000 to $1,000,000; staff outlined a multi‑year plan to phase Windows 10 computers to Windows 11 and centralize device procurement under county IT.
Scurry County Commissioners on Monday approved joining a workers' compensation alliance, agreed to increase the county's standalone cyber insurance limit from $500,000 to $1,000,000 and directed staff to begin planning a phased upgrade of county computers from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
County staff said joining the workers' comp alliance will reduce the county's claims costs when employees use in-network providers. “If they go to the in this alliance ... our doctors here in Scurry County are on that list ... it lowers our comp, our cost,” a county staff member said during the discussion.
Why it matters: Joining the network is intended to lower medical costs tied to workplace injuries. Increasing cyber coverage addresses a liability that county officials said is now required as a separate policy and can quickly produce high incident costs. The computer upgrade affects day‑to‑day operations: 88 county machines still run Windows 10, which will no longer be supported after October (year not specified in the meeting), and staff use cloud backups for continuity.
County staff described the cyber insurance change as a modest near‑term budget impact. “It is not a big increase in cost — about $2,500 difference from what we currently are paying now with a $500,000 limit,” the staff member said. The county noted that because backups are cloud‑based, raising the limit to $1,000,000 is available without substantially higher premium exposure.
On IT operations, staff reported testing that the county's records software (Tyler) is compatible with Windows 11 and outlined a plan to inventory machines, prioritize replacements and centralize purchases under Jeremy (county IT staff). The county will phase replacements so departments will not need to budget for individual PCs in year‑to‑year operating lines; larger procurement likely will be handled in the 2026 budget cycle if needed. Staff also raised the need to upgrade Microsoft 365 licenses and to evaluate a secure VPN to support operations out of the county Emergency Operations Center.
Commissioners recorded the workers' comp and cyber insurance approvals during the consent/discussion portion of the meeting and instructed staff to return with a detailed Windows upgrade plan and cost estimate.
Next steps: staff will prepare a written procurement and upgrade timeline, notify departments about license upgrades and send guidance on saving files to network drives (cloud‑backed) rather than local desktops to prevent data loss.
