Flagler County directs administrator to finalize ERP contract details, aims for March meeting

Flagler County commissioners on Thursday directed the county administrator to work with constitutional officers and staff to finalize terms of a planned enterprise resource planning (ERP) financial software implementation and return a recommended contract amendment at the board's first March meeting.

The move follows more than two years of planning and funding for a replacement financial package, and a debate at the Feb. 21 special meeting about whether initial planning should happen in public under Florida's open-meetings (Sunshine) requirements. Commissioners and county staff said the county already has budgeted money to begin implementation but wants a clear agreement among stakeholders on governance, hosting, access and modules before signing.

Tom Bexley, Flagler County clerk and comptroller, urged a two-step approach: an initial work group operating in the sunshine to establish high-level governance and a separate implementation team, not subject to open-meeting rules, to perform operational work. "We found ourselves in yet another interesting situation," Bexley said, introducing the need for a…