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McLean County Seeks To Lay Groundwork For Electronic Justice System Overhaul

Camille Rodriguez
Ryan Denham
/
WGLT
Camille Rodriguez says the current electronic justice system is "working for us but not going to last in the long haul."

The McLean County Board's Executive Committee will decide Tuesday whether to have a consulting firm overhaul the county's electronic justice system.

The system is shared by law enforcement agencies across McLean County tracking individual cases, suspect information, evidence and more. 

“There is no more we can do to the system to update it,” said County Administrator Camille Rodriguez. “It just — simply stated — needs to be revamped. It’s working for us but it’s not going to last in the long haul. It’s just an aging system.”

The county received four proposals, with MTG, a Seattle-based consulting firm, being the favorite to take on the project. If approved, the county would pay $82,000 to have MTG look at the system. The firm would then determine how much of the system needs to be replaced or if a complete overhaul is in order. The uncertainty extends to the cost, which the consultant will determine.

Rodriguez said the county wants to maintain the current capabilities of the system that “push our data-driven decisions relative to our behavioral health programs and reducing recidivism” while making the software more current but affordable.

“County administrators and our partners want the most effective system while also being the most cost effective for our taxpayers. We are very interested in finding a solution that best suits our needs," Rodriguez said.

Medicaid Overpayments

The committee will also consider a nearly $250,000 payment to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.

The payment is in response to an audit that found the state had been overpaying the McLean County Nursing Home between July 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2017.

“When a family has a change in their financial situation and we update that in the state’s computer,” Rodriguez said, "sometimes payments for services are already en route.”

Rodriguez stressed that “we are confident that we input the right information, it’s just that the state’s systems don’t always catch up with our input.”

The county is taking steps to project where overpayments may occur and log them.

“What we will promise is that our staff have adjusted the manner in which we record what we project to be the possible overpayment so that it is identifiable in the accounting of how we are projecting revenue versus expenses,” Rodriguez said.

New Elevators

The committee will decide whether to approve a contract to modernize the elevators in the 200 West Front Building that houses the county health department.

“Since last November there has been an elevator that has been inoperable,” said Rodriguez. “This initiative that we are bringing to the executive committee pays for the replacement of the elevator.”

If approved the county would pay nearly $430,000 for the updates.

Each proposal would require approval of the full McLean County Board. That could come later this month. 

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Sean Newgent is a senior journalism major at Illinois State University. He's an intern for the GLT newsroom.
Eric Stock is the News Director at WGLT. You can contact Eric at ejstoc1@ilstu.edu.
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