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Uintah County approves interlocal agreement to provide email services to two special service districts
Summary
The Uintah County Commission approved an interlocal agreement to continue hosting and servicing email accounts for the county animal control and shelter SSD and the Uintah Care Center SSD, formalizing a practice that county IT staff said has existed for more than a decade.
The Uintah County Commission on June 3 approved an interlocal agreement authorizing the county IT department to provide email accounts and related support to the county animal control and shelter Special Service District (SSD) and the Uintah Care Center SSD.
The agreement, presented by Crystal Clark, Uintah County IT director, formalizes a service the county has provided "for 10 plus years," Clark said, and will document responsibilities, costs and records access procedures moving forward. "I'm suggesting that we continue to provide them with emails, and that we put an agreement in place so that we have some documentation moving forward from this," Clark said.
Commission discussion emphasized preserving an "arm's-length" relationship between the county and the SSDs. Commissioner Larson said the county will limit its role to providing the email service and charging the SSDs for pass-through costs: "County does not intend to engage itself in the operations of the other parties, but merely to provide a beneficial and economical service," Larson said. Larson added that IT staff would retain technical access only to fulfill service and records requests.
Clark told commissioners the two SSDs together use about 15 email accounts and that the county maintains roughly 300 county email accounts overall. She said the county had not previously documented the arrangement with a memorandum of understanding and that the SSDs' low staff turnover meant the county's workload on the accounts is minimal.
The interlocal agreement also clarifies how the county would respond if either SSD requested emails under Utah's records law. Clark used the meeting term "grandma request" when describing public-records requests; commissioners discussed the county's obligation to produce email records if a Special Service District—or another authorized requester—makes a records request.
The commission voted to approve the interlocal agreement as presented. Commissioners and staff said the SSDs may sign separately if they request distinct agreements.
What happens next: county IT and the two SSDs will finalize signatures and begin operating under the written agreement; the SSDs will reimburse the county for the pass-through costs of the email accounts when bills are assessed.
