Barton County Commissioners accepted a bid from a local contracting firm to take on a project to remodel the Barton County Treasurer’s Office in order to make room for state-mandated computer equipment changes.
Parr Construction’s bid of $35,685 was accepted for the remodeling project that will make room for new equipment that the state is requiring the Treasurer’s Office to adopt by July.
County Treasurer Kevin Wondra noted earlier that the schedule for this work was going to be tight, but he could not move earlier because there was discussion that the computer change would not happen when the state government changed in January.
It was only after that change that it was made clear the new system would move ahead on schedule.
In order to do the work, the current office area, in room 208, will have to be closed to allow Parr Construction to work on six work stations, an administrative area, lighting and flooring.
To accommodate that, commissioners were told, the staff will temporarily move to a conference room on the first floor.
Information Technology Director John Debes said his department has already overseen such a move when the Appraiser’s Office remodeled.
Wondra reported earlier that “the Treasurer’s Office has received nine computers and monitors and nine printers and desktop scanners will soon be delivered from the state of Kansas. The Department of Motor Vehicles is providing the equipment to aid in running the new MOVRS (Motor Vehicle Registration Solution) and the ATMM (Accounting Transaction Money Manager) programs. These programs are mandated for all motor vehicle transactions being done in the state. From the specifications received, the equipment cannot be accommodated in the space allocated to each work station at the current counter.”
Wondra said there just isn’t sufficient room the way the office is currently designed.
The new system is schedule to go on line on July 5, Wondra reported, adding that training on the new equipment is due to begin in May, so the time frame for the remodeling is short.