Several requests gained approval by the Lyon County Commission during their weekly action session Thursday morning.
Lyon County IT Director Chuck Boyce came before commissioners seeking approval to put a new computer rotation plan into action for the county. The plan will include the purchase of 113 new computers and upgrades to 55 due to expiring software.
County computers currently run on Windows 7, the end of life for which is in 2020. Boyce tells commissioners he does not want to risk being stuck with equipment that will no longer receive updates which could cause a serious security risk.
Boyce also says part of the plan would include moving all county computers into the IT department’s inventory which would allow them to monitor and rotate computers roughly every three to four years. According to Boyce the plan is to run the machines for four years, three years on warranty and one year out of warranty, and then replace the PCs.
The total cost will be $80,000 to replace and upgrade the computers with an estimated $75,000 going towards replacements. Commissioners approved the item 3-0.
The work to replace and upgrade the computers will take most of the year to complete according to Boyce.
In other business, Bruce Boettcher with BG Consultants presented a bid letting for the Lyon County Jail generator replacement project. Bids were received for the project on Jan. 22 with the lowest bid coming in from Mitchell-Markowitz Construction LLC. of Emporia with a total bid of $201,650.
The former generator is considered obsolete as there are few parts available for it and will be demolished after installation of the new generator. There is a 16 week lead time for ordering the new generator with an estimated completion time for the project at some point in September.
Commissioners approved the bid from Mitchell-Markowitz 3-0.
Lyon County Engineer Chip Woods also presented a quote from KanEquip, in. for a used 2018 Holland TS6.130 Tractor. Subsequently, the County will trade in their 2006 John Deere boom mower tractor which currently has 9,934 hours on it for $48,226.73.
Woods also sought approval of a second quote from KanEquip for a 2019 Schulte XH1000 batwing mower for $19,995. Both items were approved 3-0.
Also during the meeting, Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat updated Commissioners on planning for the annual Northeast Kansas County Officials meeting which will be hosted by Emporia this year. The meeting will be taking place September 6th with 17 counties represented.
The major focus according to Vopat is highlighting Lyon County and Emporia and all it has to offer. Commissioners asked Vopat to continue the process and report back in the coming months as the process develops.
Eight executive sessions also took place.
The Lyon County Commission will next meet Thursday, Feb. 7 at 8 am inside the Lyon County Courthouse.
