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ARF- 2799

Regular Agenda Item 3. B.

Regular BOS Meeting

Meeting Date:	10/07/2014
Submitted For:	Kendall Rhyne
Submitted By:	Jonathan Bearup, Deputy Court Administrator, Superior Court
Department:	Superior Court	Division:	Superior Court Administration

Information

Request/Subject

Gila County Superior Court intends to apply for State Fill the Gap funding to secure improvements for Payson-based court-users.

Background Information

The Payson Justice Court, the Payson Probation Office, and the Payson Office of the Clerk of the Court all share the same computer network. The bandwith on this network is limited and, as usage and applications have increased, appropriate infrastructure has not been developed to deal with the increased traffic. Such being the case, Payson court-users routinely experience computer freezes and crashes, and the slowness of their system inhibits productivity, particularly in criminal case processing.

Evaluation

Gila County Superior Court wishes to participate in "GovNet", a network service provider with appropriate infrastructure to enhance and upgrade the current bandwith that connects our Payson-based court services with the main line servers of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Services are estimated to cost approximately $10,000 (with installation and hardware) and that is the amount that is being requested through this State Fill the Gap application.

For some time, the employees of the Payson Justice Court, the Payson Probation Office, and the Payson Office of the Clerk of Court have had to deal with slow systems, unreliable email communications, difficulties with transmission of scanned documents, and delays when accessing case database systems. This circumstance has frustrated attempts to provide customer service and public record information to the public and other entities.

Once this infrastructural improvement is made, Payson-based court users will experience significant improvements in computer speed and a decrease in down time. Reliability of electronic communications will improve. Business processes, including the receipt of payment and dissemination of case information, will speed up. Documents can be scanned and processed in less time. Overall criminal case processing will be enhanced.

As new computers and applications are set to roll out to all Arizona courts later this year, the timing would be auspicious to provide relief to our Payson court-users.

Conclusion

Utilization of GovNet's service will upgrade the Payson network to a more functional level. The improvement to infrastructure will increase productivity, limit disruptions, and assist criminal case processing. To continue offering court services through a limited, faulty network does both the public and the employees of the courts a genuine disservice; therefore, there is a need to improve the Payson network.

Recommendation

The Gila County Superior Court Administration recommends that the Board of Supervisors approve the State Fill the Gap application.

Suggested Motion

Information/Discussion/Action to approve the Gila County Superior Court's State Fill the Gap application to the Court Services Division, Administrative Office of the Courts, in the amount of $10,000 in order to upgrade the Payson court network. (Jonathan Bearup)

Attachments
State Fill the Gap Application