Geary County commissioners approve switch to eFax, authorize contract

Geary County commissioners voted to authorize a contract with eFax to replace legacy plain-old-telephone fax lines after the county’s current vendor, Nextech, began discontinuing traditional phone services.

HR Director Crystal Mautro told the commission that affected departments tested eFax options and that moving to a hosted e-fax system would allow staff to send and receive faxes from their computers. Mautro said the county asked for three lines but the vendor’s smallest commercial package is five lines; buying five lines would lower the per-line cost and provide backups. She told commissioners HR would retain a dedicated fax line for HIPAA-protected documents (for FMLA and workers’ compensation) and that several departments would use shared e-fax accounts instead of maintaining separate physical lines.

The commission made a motion to enter the contract with eFax, a commissioner seconded, and members voted in favor. Commissioners did not specify the contract dollar amount or vendor contract term in the discussion recorded in the transcript.

Nut graf: The contract responds to Nextech’s discontinuation of analog lines and aims to preserve secure, HIPAA-compliant receipt of medical and personnel documents while reducing ongoing costs by consolidating fax capacity.

In the meeting’s votes-at-a-glance, the commission also approved a brief executive session on elected personnel performance for 10 minutes. The transcript records the motions, a second, and two recorded “ayes.” The record does not show a roll-call listing of individual commissioner votes or an explicit statement of which commissioners were present for each vote.

What the commission discussed - Options and counts: Staff said the county evaluated solutions and that the vendor’s smallest practical commercial package requires five fax lines; buying five would reduce the per-line cost compared with a three-line purchase. Exact pricing and contract length were not specified on the record. - HIPAA and departmental needs: HR will keep one dedicated line for protected health information and workers’ compensation filings; other departments would share lines or use the county-wide e-fax service. - Practical effect: Staff said some departments rarely fax and could adopt the shared e-fax accounts, while others (treasurer, clerk, HR) would retain dedicated access as needed.

Votes at a glance - Motion: "Go ahead and go with the eFax" (motion text per transcript). Outcome: approved. Tally: recorded in the transcript as two "ayes." Mover/second: not specified in the transcript. Notes: contract amount/term not specified in the meeting transcript. - Motion: "Option 2...an executive session...for elected personnel to performance" (motion text per transcript). Outcome: approved for a 10-minute executive session. Tally: recorded in the transcript as two "ayes." Mover/second: not specified in the transcript.

What’s next Staff will prepare the eFax contract paperwork and bring it forward for the county’s contract-processing steps. The transcript does not record a timeline for implementation or the contract effective date.

Source: Portions of the Geary County Board of County Commissioners meeting transcript where HR Director Crystal Mautro and commissioners discussed Nextech, eFax options and the subsequent motions to approve the contract and to go into executive session.