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Committee approves consent package including contracts for indigent defense, IT systems, mapping and facility work
Summary
Columbia County's Management & Internal Services Committee approved a consent package of contracts and allocations on July 14, including a $780,251 indigent defense contract, a multi‑year mapping/LIDAR agreement, a new Microsoft enterprise agreement and $212,000 to retrofit an existing jail dorm.
The Columbia County Management and Internal Services Committee approved a series of consent items at its July 14 meeting, including contracts for legal services, mapping and technology and an allocation for jail dorm upgrades.
Chief among the items, county staff presented and the committee approved a contract with Georgia Indigent Defense Services for the public defender's office for fiscal year 2026–27. Reese, a county staff member, said the contract amount is $780,251 and "we do pay that in 12 monthly installments," noting the funds have been budgeted and the county attorney and public defender's office have reviewed the agreement.
Commissioner Kennedy introduced a $7,000 service agreement with Izzy's Foundation, which provides free swim lessons across the Central Savannah River Area. Kennedy noted the effort grew from "Izzy's Law" in Georgia and said the foundation offers lessons to residents the foundation can fund; staff recommended approval.
County GIS and IT staff described a six‑year agreement with Pictometry International for ortho and oblique photography and LIDAR flights in 2027, 2029 and 2031. Beinchard, presenting the GIS item, said the year‑one cost included in the GIS operating budget is $134,194.06 and staff recommended approval.
On information technology, Beinchard also described adoption of an expanded Cisco security suite that staff said would allow the county to consolidate other products and produce roughly $31,000 in annual savings. The committee approved the Cisco implementation.
Beinchard outlined a new three‑year Microsoft enterprise agreement (2026–29) that would move the county from a basic Office 365 tier to a higher Microsoft 365 tier with more cloud and security features. He said the proposed annual cost is $546,545.93 compared with the current Office 365 cost of about $362,000; staff noted an unactioned price increase to $416,000 would have occurred if no changes were made. The committee approved the Microsoft agreement as presented.
The committee also approved a request to allocate $212,000 from TAVT to retrofit an existing county jail dorm — replacing sinks, showers and toilets with stainless steel fixtures — to bring the older dorm to current standards. A staff presenter said the dorm holds close to 100 people and that quotes were obtained from multiple vendors; presenters explained the new‑build construction budget is fully committed so TAVT was proposed for the retrofit.
Additional consent items included an independent contractor agreement with WSP USA for special inspections and materials testing on the Evanstown Center restroom project (amount not clearly captured in the transcript) and a lighting services agreement with Georgia Power to install six 35‑foot poles and fixtures at the future ice rink and parking area at a stated installation cost of $44,103.59 plus a recurring monthly charge of $580.80 funded from park upgrade funds. Staff said both items are budgeted and recommended approval.
All consent items were moved, seconded and approved by the committee without recorded roll‑call tallies. The Chair recessed the meeting for five minutes before returning to remaining business.
The committee's approval does not itself implement the contracts until any required signature or execution steps by county staff are completed.
