Justice offices report Southern Software/Intech failure; county to schedule vendor meeting

Justice of the Peace clerks and constables told Dimmit County commissioners on Oct. 27 that the countys new Southern Software roll‑out has not linked to the sheriffs or other officessystems; as a result, citations and ticket data continue to be entered manually.

JP Sonia Guerrero Perez reported that although a contract with Southern Software was executed, the system has not yet been configured to exchange ticket records automatically with the other agencies; the countys staff and IT department have worked with both vendors but the connectors remain incomplete. Commissioners and staff said Southern Software and Intech each claim the other side has to enable the handoff, and that the county has logged communications but has not achieved an operational link.

Commissioners urged a vendor-to‑vendor meeting including sheriffs office representatives, Southern Software, and Intech to produce a technical action plan and timetable. IT staff said the problem is not strictly an internal IT configuration issue but requires cooperation between the two private vendors that operate different proprietary systems. No procurement decision was made at the meeting; the court requested staff to schedule the vendor coordination meeting and, if needed, bring the item back with draft remedies.

Why it matters: automated ticket exchange reduces duplicate data entry, speeds case processing and helps ensure consistent records across justice partners. Continued manual entry increases staff workload and risk of transcription errors.