County staff warned that a planned upgrade to the county's financial software lacks a completed needs assessment, that initial vendor numbers may understate required expenses, and that data extraction and record retention will add costs and could delay implementation into late 2026.
"We haven't even begun to do a needs assessment that we would need from these financial software companies to even bid out," said Staff member 5. "We've been given some initial numbers. I have not studied what those numbers represent, but I don't think that those are representative of what we will need for a down payment."
Staff member 5 told colleagues that conversations with "Dane" indicated there would be "quite a bit of an expense that was not initially quoted, with data extraction." The staff member added that retaining old records separately would be an additional cost.
When asked whether another county using the software could be contacted, Staff member 5 said, "Yes. I can make sure that we're comparing apples to apples and have contact them." The transcript records no contract award or budget appropriation; instead, staff described the item as a planned project that needs a needs assessment and clearer cost information before the county can set a firm down-payment figure.
No specific dollar total for the software upgrade was presented at the meeting; staff said a firm number was not available and that the county would likely be "pushing the tail end of the budget year in '26" to begin the work.