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Eaton County technology services reports Nov. power outage response, substation delays and court system migrations
Summary
Technology Services reported on a Nov. 4–5 power outage and continuity response, delays installing equipment at a Delta Township substation, progress on GIS and aerial imagery planning, a phone-system migration for the health department and court case-management cutovers set for 2025.
At the Eaton County IT Committee meeting on Dec. 4, Technology Services staff member Eric reported on operational responses to a Nov. 4–5 power outage, ongoing equipment installation at a Delta Township substation, and several multiagency IT projects affecting county operations and courts.
Eric said Technology Services worked with Facilities Management, Central Dispatch and the County Clerk’s office during the outage, deploying a portable generator and using Central Dispatch’s communications trailer to maintain operations. He thanked Eric Hafner in the sheriff’s department for coordinating security. Eric said the county had acquired a portable generator earlier in the year through emergency management, which was used along with the dispatch trailer to provide longer run-time and reduce the need for constant refueling.
The department identified a recurring vulnerability: when power fails the county cannot provide cooling for data center closets in the courthouse. Eric said staff used fans to exhaust warm air during the outage and recommended the issue be addressed as a capital improvement.
On the Delta Township Substation Renovation, Eric said the contractor (acd.net) had run internet service to the building but the connection had not yet been terminated in the data rack; technicians planned to terminate the service and begin installing servers and networking equipment the week following Thanksgiving, but the work was delayed because power had not been established in the room. Eric said the contractor expected to hand off the facility to the township in the first or second week of January 2025; the transcript records the temporary substation lease expiring in early February 2025.
Eric reported GIS news: John Merrick was selected to Michigan’s newly established GIS Advisory Board, a 17-member body advising the State Geographic Information Officer. Technology Services also submitted a letter of commitment to the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission’s aerial imagery program; Eric said Eaton County participates in a roughly five-year rotation for aerial imagery flights, which are scheduled when ground and atmospheric conditions permit.
Technology Services reported completing a phone-system migration that moved Barry District Health Department (transcript: “Berry and District Health Department”) off county infrastructure to their own system; staff said the change improves portability and reduces the county’s maintenance workload. Eric said Technology Services and health department administration are working on cleaning up legacy systems, applying retention schedules and moving some applications to hosted environments.
On courts, Eric said the state of Michigan offers a no-cost courtroom docket display solution that Eaton County is demoing and plans to adopt before the new year. He said the circuit court’s case-management system cutover is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2025, and that, if successful, district court migration is scheduled for June 2025. Eric noted many courts in Michigan have already migrated to the modern, multi-tenant system.
Eric also described progress retiring legacy applications, including taking an AS/400 host offline. "I officially unplugged the network cord on that," he said.
The committee had no additional miscellaneous items and adjourned to January 2025.
