Cass County Commission approves public-health data access, school advertising, safe-cribs, jail UPS replacement and Google Workspace renewal

The Cass County Commission on Nov. 5 unanimously approved five departmental resolutions covering public-health data access, school advertising for health messaging, an infant safe-sleep program, jail security upgrades and an IT contract renewal.

The actions, taken during a brief public session, included renewals and contract amendments presented by health, sheriff's office and IT staff and recorded as 3-0 roll-call votes.

County staff said the memorandum of agreement with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services preserves the county's access to the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory web portal. "So this agreement just continues our access to the state health department's web portal," health staff member Matt said during the meeting. The resolution was recorded as Resolution 25-0109 and passed 3-0.

The commission next approved a sponsor-advertising agreement with Harrisonville (Cass R-9) school district that would allow the health department to place health-awareness messages on a school stadium "big screen," including teen suicide awareness messaging. Matt told the commission the county has reached out to multiple school districts and that final placement depends on whether individual school boards approve the county's advertising and whether a district repairs its scoreboard. The measure, Resolution 25-1110, passed 3-0.

Also approved was participation in the Safe Cribs for Missouri program, an agreement with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services that the county said will allow staff to provide brief safe-sleep education to eligible parents and provide a pack-and-play or portable crib at no cost. The item was listed as Resolution 25-1111 and passed 3-0.

Sheriff's Office staff reported the jail needs replacement battery backups for UPS controllers that are roughly 22 years old. "We have 2 battery backups for both of our controllers that are 22 years old. 1 of them has failed," the sheriff's office representative (Barberick) said, adding the county would pay about $46,000 for the battery backups from the dedicated security fund and use the county's existing GSA contract to cover about 48 hours of installation. The commission approved the amendment/addendum to the certified maintenance agreement with P1 Construction LLC as Resolution 25-1112, 3-0.

Finally the commission approved a one-year renewal of its Google Workspace Business Plus subscription through a different approved reseller after the county's prior reseller raised prices. IT staff (Mark) said switching resellers would save about $25 per user on a base of approximately 175 users. The renewal was approved as Resolution 25-1113, 3-0.

The meeting record shows no dissenting votes on the five items. Several staff clarifications were noted on the record: the school advertising agreement depends on school-board approvals and the functioning of district display hardware; the Safe Cribs program provides education plus a portable crib at no cost to eligible parents; and the jail UPS replacements will be funded from the security fund with installation done under the county's GSA contract.

The commission moved on to other business after the votes.