The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with Cott Systems, Inc. for digitizing some of the auditor and recorder’s office records.

County Auditor Dan Widmer presented a recommended bid from Cott last week, at a cost of $68,325 for the auditor’s books, and $152,500 for County Recorder Jo Greiner’s land records and $33,980 for birth, death, and marriage certificate records. Greiner shared that this proposal is just for 385 of 799 books in her office, and that she, Budget/IT Director Cyndie Sinn, and Geographic Information Systems Coordinator Dewey Royer are each able to contribute $50,000 of their budget towards the project. As Widmer has funds budgeted for his portion, this leaves the county $36,480 short for the total proposal, which the supervisors discussed could be paid by their American Rescue Plan Act funds, none of which had yet been allocated. Sinn told the supervisors that no ARPA funds can be spent during the current fiscal year, and Widmer shared that only half of the payment to Cott is due upon receipt of the contract. The agreement also includes a $170 fixed monthly fee for five years of technical support, and the prices were only guaranteed until this Thursday. The board approved the contract unanimously and to authorize up to $50,000 in ARPA funds be spent in fiscal year 2023.