Wednesday, December 24, 2014
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Warren City Council has authorized the city to enter into a $449,000 contract with Pioneer Technology Group of Sanford, Fla., to provide a replacement software program for municipal court.
The new software, called Benchmark, became necessary when the court’s current software company, American Cadastre, also known as AMCAD, of Herndon, Va., folded up its justice-solutions software division last June and filed for bankruptcy protection in September.
Margaret Scott, clerk of courts, said the $449,000 provides the software, training, and one year of support.
The new program is likely to be operational within one year of the contract being signed by the city administration.
She expects that to happen soon, Scott said.
The court went live with its AMCAD system in June 2012.
It had a rocky start because the court was a test installation for the software, but the system works fine now, Scott said.
But when AMCAD said it was getting out of that business and would no longer support the product, it was necessary to get another software product to replace it as soon as possible because of the court’s inability after that to upgrade the system when required to by the Ohio Supreme Court or Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Scott said.
The court will pay for the new system with money from its special-projects fund, which consists of fees charged to those filing documents with the court, not from funds used to pay police officers or other departments in the city, Scott added.
The court paid $598,000 for the AMCAD system and has hired legal counsel to attempt to recoup some of that money, Scott said.
Benchmark has been in use for about one year, Scott said, and worked perfectly when court officials went to Wayne County six months ago to view its operation there.
The system will have the capabilities the court wanted to get from the AMCAD system, such as online payments and electronic filing by attorneys and the public.
The public frequently asks for online payment options, which will save time and money when it is operational, Scott said.
“It’s the most technologically advanced software we saw,” Scott said of Benchmark, adding that the system is “practically paperless” the way it is used in Wayne County, which is southeast of Summit County.