Board approves $27,600 to buy web-based case management system for Commonwealth’s Attorney

Fluvanna County’s Board of Supervisors on June 4 approved the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s request to proceed with a web-based case-management system from Spartan and moved a budget transfer to cover start-up expenses.

The action authorizes an initial spend of $27,600 for system implementation and associated costs and approved a separate budget transfer of $24,200 from the FY25 Board contingency into the Commonwealth’s Attorney budget to cover setup costs not already budgeted. The initial motion carried on a voice vote recorded as “aye” and the board chair announced a 5-0 favorable vote for the purchase; the related budget transfer was later recorded as approved on a separate voice vote (chair recorded as “aye,” 4-0).

The change responds to limits of the office’s 15-year-old desktop system. The Commonwealth’s Attorney, identified in the meeting as “Mister Hayes,” told the board the present software is server-based, must be accessed from office desktops and cannot easily produce electronic discovery packets required under recently debated Virginia legislation. “It’s the difference between a phone and an iPhone,” Mister Hayes said of the new product demonstration, adding the current system forces staff to deliver evidence on disks and thumb drives and restricts remote access.

Hayes described the vendor offer and costs: the vendor will convert existing case data, with the county’s current contractor offering to…