Sheriff seeks CivicPlus contract to archive Washington County social media; commissioners approve

The Washington County Commissioners Court approved a contract May 5 to allow the sheriff's office to use CivicPlus to capture and retain social-media records.

Sheriff Trey Holloway told the court that Senate Bill 944 amended the Texas Public Information Act to require government entities to archive social-media content so it can be produced for public information or legal discovery. "Once you upload data into a social media platform, you no longer own that data," Holloway said, noting that CivicPlus will capture posts, comments, likes and metadata so the county can produce that content on request.

Holloway said the cloud-based product does not require additional IT department infrastructure for a sheriff's-office-only contract; several neighboring agencies were cited as current users. Commissioner discussion included whether the county should pursue a countywide purchase to bundle CivicPlus services (website hosting, agenda management and records-request software) for cost savings; staff said the sheriff's office needs the product now, but countywide bundling could be explored later.

Commissioner Bullock moved to approve the CivicPlus agreement for the Washington County Sheriff's Office; the motion was seconded, called and carried.

The transcript contains no contract amount, term length, or procurement-exemption details; commissioners and staff discussed potential future countywide procurement but recorded no formal direction in this meeting to initiate a countywide contract.