On the agenda: Saint Joseph meeting — data center (Aug 20)

FP2608302
August 20, 2026
Page 1 of 2

TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BERRIEN COUNTY: Your
County Finance and Personnel and Human Services Committees respectfully recommend the adoption
of the following:

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Berrien County Register of Deeds and County Clerk have undertaken a project to
replace their existing County Fusion records management system with the Fidlar Technologies
Records Management System in order to improve functionality, enhance service delivery, and
modernize operations; and

WHEREAS, the original project plan included hosting the Fidlar application within the Berrien
County Information Systems data center, requiring the purchase and deployment of additional storage
to support the new virtual server environment; and

WHEREAS, Berrien County approved and funded a 2026 Information Systems Capital Project to
expand the County's storage infrastructure to accommodate growing data storage requirements,
including the infrastructure necessary to support the Register of Deeds and County Clerk Fidlar
implementation; and

WHEREAS, although the required storage infrastructure was ordered in January 2026, manufacturer
supply constraints and repeated delivery delays have postponed installation of the equipment, with the
current delivery estimated for October 2026, preventing the County from deploying the required
hosting environment within the project's implementation timeline; and

WHEREAS, delaying implementation until the new infrastructure becomes available would require
the County to extend maintenance and support for the existing County Fusion system with its current
vendor, resulting in additional unbudgeted costs and delaying the operational benefits of the new Fidlar
system; and

WHEREAS, Fidlar Technologies offers a secure cloud-hosted solution through its hosting partner,
Bastion, that satisfies the operational requirements of the Register of Deeds and County Clerk and
allows the implementation project to proceed without waiting for the delayed data center
infrastructure; and

WHEREAS, transitioning the project from an on-premises deployment to the vendor-hosted cloud
environment is the recommended approach, allowing the County to maintain the project schedule,
avoid unnecessary software support extension costs, and continue the modernization of the Register of
Deeds' and County Clerks’ records management systems; and

WHEREAS, Fidlar Technologies has provided an addendum to the Register of Deeds contract #A25-
4966 for Bastion, a secure cloud-hosted solution for the Register of Deeds, at $28,600 annually which
will be billed quarterly; and

FP2608302
August 20, 2026
Page 2 of 2

WHEREAS, Fidlar Technologies has provided an addendum for the County Clerk contract #A25-
497) at $8,800 annually which will be billed quarterly; and

WHEREAS, the current vendor would require a minimum 6-month contract renewal at $10,820 a
month for the Register of Deeds and $8,170 a month for the Clerk

WHEREAS, it is now in the best interest of the County to maintain a cloud hosted Bastion software
application for both the Register of Deeds and the County Clerk; and

WHEREAS, the addendum for both the Register of Deeds and County Clerk has been reviewed and
approved by Corporate Counsel and the Information Systems Director.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED, that the Berrien County Board of
Commissioners authorizes the Chairman to execute addendums to the Fidlar Technologies agreements
in order to secure Bastion, a cloud-hosted storage solution for both the Register of Deeds and County
Clerk at an annual cost of $28,600 for the Register of Deeds and $8,800 for County Clerk.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, RESPECTFLLY SUBMITTED,
FINANCE COMMITTEE PERSONNEL & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

frperson Robert P. Harrison, Chairman

ais i Julie Wuerfel, Vice Chairperson
Ra NOE Chokwe Pitchford

‘eri Sue Freehling

RE LUTION
ALTON APPROVED

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