Kane Co. considers $6 million for computer upgrade at sheriff's office

A new computer system that will cost Kane County $6 million over the next five years is proposed for the sheriff's office.

Officials from the sheriff's office and the county's information technologies department said Troy, Mich.-based New World Systems' software and hardware package will improve communications among emergency personnel, according to a proposal considered by the county board's judicial/public safety committee Wednesday.

The new system will allow better integration between the sheriff's office, state's attorney's office, circuit clerk, and local law enforcement agencies, Sheriff Pat Perez said. He called the current system "outdated, inadequate, inefficient and perilously problematic."

The sheriff's office's current server is eight years old and its operating system is 10 years old. Most of the support servers are at least five years old, said IT Director Roger Fahnestock.

A $997,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will be used to fund part of the project, but committee members wondered how to fund the balance. The system itself costs $3 million; the remaining $3 million is estimated for maintenance and other costs.

The board's finance committee is expected to take up the issue next month.

Even if the board opts not to purchase New World Systems' package, it will cost the county $3 million to replace, upgrade and maintain existing hardware and software, Fahnestock said.

"We have to spend that money no matter what," said committee chairman Jim Mitchell, a North Aurora Republican.

New World Systems was one of four companies that submitted proposals to the county. Two local emergency dispatch agencies, Tri-Com - which serves Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles - and QuadCom - which serves the Carpentersville and Dundee area - use New World Systems.

It will take at least 18 months to fully implement the new system, which is expected to serve the county for at least the next 10 years, Fahnestock said.