Becker County approves new servers and backup air-conditioning for data room

Becker County commissioners approved two IT expenditures: replacement production servers and a redundant air-conditioning unit for the county’s primary data room.

Judy from IT told the board the county’s on-premises servers support most county applications (except Microsoft cloud services) and that an initial estimate of roughly $100,000 came in lower at $84,128; staff recommended purchasing the servers and contracting installation assistance. Judy said expected service life is about five to six years and that she maintains a multi-year capital plan for IT replacements.

Separately, the board approved a second air-conditioning unit and remote monitoring for the data room after two separate AC failures in the past 14 months caused system shutdowns and lost productive work. IT estimated the AC unit and monitoring at approximately $14,966 and justified the purchase by citing staff downtime and the risk of equipment damage if the room overheats.

Commissioners asked about lifecycle planning and how purchases would be funded; Judy said the items will come from the county’s Special General Fund and that she has earmarked recurring funds for IT capital needs. The board approved both motions on voice votes.