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Pine County approves EVA AI system for HHS phone operations; first-year cost about $39,400
Summary
The Pine County Board approved purchase and implementation of EVA, an AI-powered phone and eligibility-assistance system for Health & Human Services, with a first-year cost around $39,400 and an expected 3-to-4-month setup period; board discussion centered on staff workload reduction and implementation timeline.
The Pine County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the purchase and deployment of EVA, an AI-powered phone and eligibility-assistance system for the county—s Health & Human Services (HHS) front desk.
Becky Foss, Pine County HHS director, told commissioners that EVA is managed by TIBCO contractors and "it takes about 3 to 4 months, from our conversations with them to set up EVA to where we want it to be," including the ability to handle multiple callers and multiple languages. She said EVA can capture required verbal attestations during eligibility interviews and will call back clients who hang up to secure those attestations for audit purposes.
Board members described heavy call volume at the single HHS front desk and endorsed the purchase as a staff-support measure. A technology committee representative said the county averages roughly 260 calls a day that a single worker may need to triage. Commissioners discussed cost, noting an implementation-year expense and lower recurring costs thereafter; the board recorded the first-year price as about $39,400 and a subsequent-year cost of roughly $34,020.
Commissioners moved and passed the motion to approve the EVA program; the chair called for "aye" and the motion was approved. Supporters said the tool would save eligibility workers roughly 15-20 minutes per client interaction on routine rights-and-responsibilities portions of interviews and reduce pressure to hire many additional staff by 2027.
Becky Foss said other Minnesota counties, including Stearns, St. Louis and Olmsted, have adopted similar systems and that Pine County would benefit from those early adopters— experience. Foss emphasized that EVA is not intended to replace HHS staff but to automate routine call handling and preserve staff time for higher-complexity work.
The board did not discuss detailed contract language in the public meeting; Foss indicated EVA implementation would follow county procurement and contracting processes and include vendor support for troubleshooting.
