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Freestone County officials favor keeping full LGS software package; set training and migration windows
Summary
County leaders discussed whether to disable unused modules in a new LGS records and case-management system and, after concerns about data flow and future needs, leaned toward keeping the full package. Training and network switch dates were scheduled and coordination with CJIS, eForce and dispatch work was discussed.
Freestone County commissioners' court discussed rolling out the county's new LGS case- and records-management system and, after debate about which modules to enable, participants said the county should keep the full set of modules available and proceed with vendor-led training and related network work.
The meeting centered on whether the county should ask LGS to add an addendum to the contract to turn off modules that individual departments said they would not use. Several elected officials and staff raised concerns that disabling functions now could prevent future data capture or interrupt information flows between offices, and they urged keeping all modules enabled so departments can evaluate features over time. Staff said LGS has indicated the system could be configured to turn modules on or off but also that some modules would remain available if the county downloads the full package.
Why this matters: county offices handle interdependent records for courts, the district attorney and the clerk, and some workflows must flow from one office to another. Several speakers warned that if one office continues to use spreadsheets while another enters records into LGS, the county could lose six months or more of interoperable data. Participants also discussed CJIS access controls and the need to designate CJIS-credentialed users for sensitive criminal-history work.
Discussion details and technical points County staff and elected officials described practical trade-offs. Some offices worried that leaving every module active would create clutter on screens and require extra training; others said the county has already paid for the system and that enabling the “full package” allows later adoption of useful tabs such as juvenile case management and jury services. One participant described LGS as easier to use than the county’s current NetData system and said a Justice of the Peace had reduced a 4–5 hour task to about 20 minutes after learning the new interface.
Officials discussed the current CoFile/NetData arrangement for court and cashiering functions. Staff said the county recently renewed a CoFile contract (noted as a five-year agreement renewed last year in the meeting) and that moving land-records conversion would be expensive — “several hundred thousand dollars,” as noted in the discussion. For now, the court heard recommendations to keep judicial, criminal and civil case processing in LGS while maintaining land records in their existing system until the county has time to evaluate conversion costs and timing.
CJIS and access control Participants clarified that CJIS access is controlled by approved CJIS representatives and that not every office holder or staffer is automatically granted CJIS credentials. The meeting noted that CJIS accounts require training and formal approval and that certain staff members (named in discussion as CJIS reps for particular offices) keep credentialing authority. Attendees emphasized distinguishing between using automated CJIS submissions through LGS and continuing to log directly into the CJIS site; some offices said they prefer manual confirmation on the CJIS website for sensitive criminal-history entries.
Training, schedule and related IT work County staff outlined a near-term schedule: Windstream network switch work is scheduled for March 17–18 and is expected to cause large parts of county operations to be offline while hardware is replaced; staff said the vendor ordered replacement switches and had rescheduled some cutover work. LGS staff told county personnel the system would be ready in early April; county staff later said on-site training from LGS is planned in May and that training will be done by department (one department per day, with follow-up support in-office after classroom sessions). The county also discussed training for eForce (the sheriff/records dispatch build) and coordinating dispatch and sheriff office migration so critical services are not disrupted. Staff recommended that each department name a “champion” to lead training and field questions afterward.
Decisions and next steps There was no formal vote recorded in the transcript. The commissioners' court signaled a preference to download the full LGS package so each department can test tabs and workflows, to proceed with collecting GL codes and other back-end data LGS needs, and to schedule vendor-led training and switch work per the dates discussed. Staff said they would respond to the vendor about the county’s intended functionality and proceed to a coordinated training plan; they also said they would follow up with LGS and Windstream to finalize cutover and training dates.
Ending County staff were asked to confirm a training calendar and to coordinate data-gathering (GL codes and state fee settings) so LGS can build the system back-end. Officials emphasized minimizing disruptions to public services during training and hardware cutovers and noted that the county had invested significant funds in the system and wanted to maximize its value.
