Public records portal remains offline as IT and district attorney dispute legacy data; commissioners call for cross‑department meeting

County IT and elected offices clashed in public during a June 2025 budget work session over when the county will restore public online access to county court records.

Mister Badu, an IT staff member, told commissioners the technical step to re‑enable the public portal would take “10 seconds” once the district attorney’s office signs off. IT staff and the IT director (Ariel) said the technical platform is ready and that remaining work is primarily a matter of reviewing and cleaning legacy data flagged as improperly exposed during the 2021 migration.

County and court officials described a chain of events that began with the 2021 system conversion to a new case management and agenda vendor. After the conversion, staff identified expunged and sealed records that had been exposed in the new system. The district attorney’s office instructed IT to shut public access while the DA’s office reviewed and directed corrective steps. The district attorney’s representative and others present told commissioners the DA’s office is responsible for ensuring expunged/sealed records are not publicly accessible and that the office has not yet cleared the portal for public access.

Commissioners discussed apparent responsibility and delay. The county judge said the issue is not solely IT’s fault; IT staff said they have been ready to restore access but need formal clearance from the DA to proceed. Commissioners asked departmental leaders to meet with IT to develop a plan: reconcile legacy records in the system, identify which historical data should be published, and establish a controlled conversion path so Granicus or another vendor can import accurate meeting and court records.

IT and court officials also described related problems with converting legacy agenda and meeting records into Granicus: some meetings present on the public website are not in the database and vice versa, and scanning/backlog issues mean a separate reconciliation project is needed before wholesale conversion.

Why it matters: The county remains out of compliance with state law on public access to court records, according to officials who said the portal has been effectively disabled since the conversion uncovered exposed expunged records. Restoring safe public access affects transparency, background checks, and public research.

What remains open: Commissioners instructed county department heads and IT to schedule a cross‑department meeting to define responsibilities, a cleanup plan and a timeline; no timetable was set at the session.