Commissioners table vote on remote-proctored oral fluid drug testing vendor

Summary

County human resources requested permission to switch to AccuSource HR for proctored remote oral-fluid drug testing and background checks; commissioners asked for vendor accuracy, detection windows and chain-of-custody details and voted to table the item to the Jan. 20 meeting to allow staff to gather additional information.

Effingham County human-resources director Sarah Malsoft requested the board’s approval to switch pre-employment drug-screening and background-check vendors to AccuSource HR, which offers live‑proctored, remote oral-fluid testing and an integrated background-check service.

Malsoft said the change would reduce travel burdens for applicants and part-time first responders who otherwise must drive long distances to labs; she noted network and lab access issues with the county’s current provider. Commissioners asked detailed operational questions about detection windows (oral-fluid vs. urinalysis), false positive/negative rates, chain-of-custody and whether kits would be distributed to homes or administered on-site. Malsoft committed to gather vendor data, accuracy statistics and operational protocols for the next meeting.

Following discussion, the board voted to table the request to the January 20 meeting to give staff time to obtain vendor materials and answer commissioners’ technical questions.