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Newberry County staff recommend switching emergency-reporting software to First Due; request prorated $18,173 startup
Summary
Merged service coordinator Brandon Wicker recommended replacing ImageTrend with First Due to improve usability and reporting; he asked the council to approve a prorated March–July First Due account for $18,173 plus tax and to consider the recurring cost in the next budget cycle.
Brandon Wicker, merged service coordinator, told the council the county should replace long-used ImageTrend with First Due to make reporting easier and to take advantage of an AI-assisted reporting feature.
Wicker said ImageTrend has served Newberry County for roughly 12 to 15 years but that departments have struggled with its usability. He presented pricing that, as quoted, showed ESO at about $47,000 annually and First Due at “29.06 annually” with a 5% source-discount that would likely put First Due south of $29,000; he noted those quotes do not include tax. Wicker asked the council to consider approving a prorated account that would run March through July at $18,173 plus tax, which includes a one-time implementation and training fee of $6,500.
“What I’m here today to ask…is if we could consider doing a prorated account that would begin as soon as we could get all the paperwork filed, for five months that would go from March through July,” Wicker said. He added that the prorated startup would let the county run ImageTrend and First Due in parallel while staff migrate data and train departments.
Wicker described First Due’s mobile workflow and an AI feature that can “fill out about 80% of the report,” reducing manual entry at stations if the system performs as promised. He said First Due’s license model is unlimited on users and is organized by station assignment.
Council members and staff asked about recurring costs and budget approval. One councilor noted that the additional annual cost (roughly $9,000–$10,000 more than current spending, per council discussion) would need to be approved in the next budget cycle; Wicker confirmed the quote excludes tax and that he would provide the final written quote. The council agreed the item should be forwarded to the formal council meeting for a vote and budget review; no formal contract award occurred at the work session.
Next steps: staff will submit the First Due quote to the council, and the prorated startup request was recommended to be included on the council agenda for formal consideration and budget review.
