The Stephenson County sheriff reported that multiple security systems at county facilities require updates and repairs, and said the county will seek to address failures in stages rather than fund an immediate full replacement.

The sheriff told commissioners the courthouse employee access-card system is at the end of its useful life and that adding new control boxes would cost about $37,000. He said the courthouse, the jail and the PSP security camera system need a software update estimated at $35,000.

The most significant problem is the jail's electronic locking system. The sheriff said the locks failed after vendor updates and that the county still maintains physical keys, but electronic doors would not open. He said a full replacement of the jail locking hardware would cost roughly $750,000. "We're not doing that," the sheriff said, adding the county plans a phased approach: "I can piecemeal this together, and I've got the quote here from the company. I don't wanna strip everything out then. We're gonna get into that huge amount."

The sheriff described the equipment as proprietary and controlled by the vendor, and reported a multi-phase estimate the transcript records as "approximately 368500 hours," a figure that appears to be garbled in the meeting record. He said he will work with the vendor to make targeted repairs and upgrades as components fail and will absorb some costs from jail-dedicated funds. "I'm not asking for any money at this time at all," he said.

Commissioners did not vote on funding during the meeting. The sheriff said he will return with updates as specific repairs are scheduled or needed.

Background: the sheriff also updated the commission on personnel: a four-day academy is halfway complete and interviews are scheduled Nov. 17 to fill two positions, one at the jail and one in patrol.