Commissioners approve contract modification with Journal for court system after extended debate

The St. Clair County commissioners approved a contract modification with vendor Journal for the countycase-management ("journal") project following extended discussion over functionality, schedule and payment terms.

Commissioners, court staff and vendor representatives debated a change-order request and whether the project now meets the courtneeds. County staff and vendor representatives told the board the project is about 60% complete and that, under the negotiated modification, certain payments are tied to formal acceptance testing. A vendor representative said, "we don't get paid until the customer accepts the product for production use." The county ultimately approved the modification by roll-call vote after representatives from the court said the district court planned to opt out of parts of the project and move to the state system.

Commissioners discussed a reduction in the proposed change order. One commissioner summarized that the change reduced the amount to $50,400 and described the net contract reduction as $108,555.60; county staff also said annual maintenance costs would fall from $182,000 to about $100,000 after removing certain users. County staff estimated the remaining implementation schedule at roughly 12 months from contract execution, with approximately 60% of work complete.

Supporters said the modification aligns payments with acceptance testing and gives the county a path to finish necessary integrations; skeptics raised concerns about vendor performance and asked for contingency plans with the state court system.

The board approved the contract modification by roll call. Commissioners and court staff said they would continue acceptance testing and that final production deployment would require formal sign-off before additional vendor payments were released.