Christian County commissioners approved two contract renewals and adopted an updated purchasing policy manual with the change-order approval section removed for further review.

Corrections staff recommended renewing the commissary services contract with Keith Commissary Network; the contracts committee noted item pricing will follow the Consumer Price Index and staff said the most recent CPI update produced a 3.1% increase. The commission approved the commissary contract renewal to begin Jan. 1.

County procurement staff then recommended a one-year renewal with Tyler Technologies for the county’s legacy ERP system (financials, HR, payroll and related modules). Staff described the current software as older and warned that a full replacement would be costly; commissioners approved a one-year renewal while acknowledging an eventual upgrade will be needed.

Purchasing Director Kim presented a lengthy update to the purchasing manual that clarified electronic bidding time clocks and minimum solicitation timelines, added rules on redacting sensitive attachments, described blanket purchase orders and added reporting and PO-aging tools. A central point of debate was a proposed requirement to present capital-project change orders above a $25,000 threshold to the commission. Several commissioners and staff urged more nuanced classifications (emergencies, field directives, avoidable scope omissions) before settling on a numeric threshold.

To avoid delaying urgent work while improving oversight, the commission voted to adopt the purchasing manual with the change-order section removed and instructed staff to return promptly with recommended criteria or a revised threshold for change-order reporting and approval. Commissioners emphasized they want transparency on larger change orders but do not want to micromanage routine small adjustments.