Kootenai County approves five‑year cloud contract for sheriff’s digital evidence system

The Kootenai County Board of Commissioners on March 24 approved a five‑year cloud‑based digital evidence management system for the sheriff’s office (quote 3363931) after a presentation from county IT staff.

Grant Kinsey, network administrator, told the board the county’s current on‑site servers and tape libraries are old and frequently require repair. He said moving evidence storage and software to Motorola’s cloud would provide a full software suite and additional tools the county does not have now. "We'd be going into a 5‑year agreement for a half a million dollars," Kinsey said, and added that subsequent years would average about $88,000.

Kinsey and the board discussed budget timing and contract exit language. Kinsey said the master agreement contains non‑appropriation language that would allow the county to exit if future boards decline to appropriate ongoing funds, but he cautioned that migrating data back from the cloud could be difficult. He and commissioners also discussed how capital purchases in the past masked ongoing operational costs, with the new arrangement shifting the expense into a recurring operating line.

The board voted to approve the system and its quote. Commissioners noted the functional and operational gains the system would provide and directed staff to implement the contract and to account for the ongoing $88,000 annual cost in future budgeting.

Next steps: the sheriff’s office and IT will execute the contract, begin onboarding with Motorola, and return to the board or auditor’s office with budget implementation steps as required.