County approves cloud hosting for sheriff’s body and dash cameras, contingent on midyear budget fix

The Utah County Commission on March 8 approved a contract to support the sheriff’s office body- and dash-camera systems, choosing a cloud-hosting option and agreeing to revisit county finances at midyear to cover the expense.

Commissioners heard from Jason Phillipi of the sheriff’s office, who said the county currently stores WatchGuard body- and dash-camera footage on on-premises servers that are running out of disk space. Phillipi said WatchGuard’s newer camera and software versions make on-premises hosting more complex and likely to require repeated, costly upgrades.

“Buying three additional servers would have cost about $270,000–$280,000 up front,” said an administrative staff member identified in the meeting as Rudy, who said a cloud contract would reduce the immediate capital outlay and create an ongoing annual expense of roughly $97,000. Commissioners also noted an additional upfront camera-equipment cost of about $10,500.

Commissioners and staff discussed funding. Rudy said a quick tally showed roughly $145,000 in miscellaneous equipment in the current budget that could be redirected, but commissioners emphasized that some restricted funds require explicit commissioner approval to move. The chair said the agenda item lacked detailed budget figures when published and stressed the need to identify funding sources.

Unidentified Speaker 7 moved to approve the contract contingent on finding funds during the midyear budget review and redirecting existing equipment funds as needed; Unidentified Speaker 2 seconded. The motion passed unanimously, 3–0.

The commission’s approval allows the sheriff’s office to proceed with the cloud-hosting contract while county staff pursue a formal midyear budget adjustment to secure ongoing funding.