NEW ULM — Brown County commissioners will consider purchasing and contracting with Motorola Solutions to update the Brown County Sheriff’s Office 911 phone system Tuesday, June 25.

Contract proposal costs of $127,482 are under Minnesota state contract pricing. They include five years of maintenance support would come from the county 911 fund that has a balance of $481,331.20 as of May 30.

The new VESTA 911 system would allow Brown County dispatch to receive text to 911 and allow video to be sent to dispatch. It would be housed remotely and have redundant backup. The old 911 phone system controlled by Sentinel Patriot was bought in 2012.

Commissioners will also consider:

• A 2020 Managed Care procurement scoring/recommendation for South Country Health Alliance for having the highest sole provider score for managed care recipients of Family and Children Minnesota Care in Brown County as of Jan. 1, 2020. Second, third and fourth place scoring went to U-Care, Medica and Blue Plus.

• Making a part-time family-based child protection worker a full-time position in the 2020 budget. To keep home placement costs down, two quality people are needed in two para-professional jobs.

Social workers are more willing to use these services to keep close track of services to ensure children are safe. There is a lot of demand for jobs like this due to a lot of group homes and day facilities for disabled children and adults.

• Increasing 2020 out-of-home placement expenditures to $1,000,000 and revenue to $200,000 from $160,000. The change comes from higher probation out-of-home costs than other like-sized and larger counties.

Getting long-stand adoptions finalized through the Department of Human Services and courts is a long-standing, high-cost item with so many costly and unpredictable children’s mental health placements.

Brown County has increased prevention efforts especially in schools, in hopes of less out-of-placements.

• Advertising for proposals for the Brown County Museum Masonry Project Legacy Grant Application.

• The board meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 25 in the courthouse commissioner’s room.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).