The Highland County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of a Criminal Case Management software program for the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office at its weekly Wednesday meeting.

The board of commissioners approved the purchase of the Karpel Criminal Case Management software for $74,400 along with an annual support service for $10,100.

Highland County Prosecuting Attorney Anneka Collins said the purpose of the software was to make the office use less paper. She said this software would allow all of its documentation to be sent digitally to where it needed to go.

Collins said some examples of how this would change parts of the office was, in terms of discoveries, now all of those files would be scanned into the system, automatically redacted by the system and then sent to the defense attorneys and court, which would save money and paper.

She said the new system also helps track restitution and issues the subpoenas, the latter of which the system would pull the witnesses from discovery, prepare the subpoena and when the office hits print, file them.

Collins said Highland County’s office was one of the few in the state that hadn’t yet gone to a digital case management system. She said the best time to try and get the system implemented would be in December, which she also said was when the court was not as busy as usual due to people in the office taking vacation.

Kathryn Allen, an office administrator, said the people at Karpel didn’t give any indication of how long the implementation would take. She said it sounded like it would be “at least” a one-month process because the people there would come to the prosecutor’s office, get its templates, take them back and scan them into their system, and then come back to the office and stay with them for two weeks to implement it.

In other news, Kim Havens, a concerned citizen, discussed crime in the Highland Holiday Subdivision Association and around Rocky Fork Lake.

She said the people holding positions in the association have said they would never give up those seats and also changed the annual meeting’s usual date the last two years to avoid a vote. She also said the association invented a fake secretary so they could turn in their signatures late and still run on the ballot.

“We are being held hostage by these people,” Havens said. “We don’t want the association anymore.”

Havens said other complaints about the association include that they won’t let the neighborhood use its dump 24/7 and that people in it have stolen money and paid themselves for labor they hired out.

Commissioner Dave Daniels recommended Havens get into contact with the people who were in charge of disbanding the Enchanted Hills Community Association a few years ago.

Havens also said she has continually made complaints about people cooking meth in their homes in the area every weekend, but that the sheriff’s office can’t do anything about it if others don’t say something. She asked the commissioners about possibly starting an advertising campaign about turning their neighbors in to law enforcement.

Daniels said that the board has talked to the local board of health about the problems. He said they have assisted with some financing around health and safety complaints there.

Commissioner Terry Britton recommended that Havens go to the sheriff’s office and tell them of any specific addresses she knew where she knew meth was being cooked.

The commissioners approved cameras and a monitoring system from Superior Alarm for the Highland County Dog and Kennel building. The approval was for 16 cameras and would cost $10,879 for the installation and a $40 monthly monitoring fee.

The board approved three authorizations to execute, those being change order 1A-1 for the new OSU Extension Building from Tag Williams, Inc. due to a revised construction schedule, Change Order 15A-1 for the new OSU Extension Building from Weller’s Plumbing and Heating due to a revised construction schedule, and Change Order 16A-1 for the new OSU Extension Building from CT Electric due to a revised construction schedule.

The board of commissioners also made two approvals, one being a cost proposal from Karpel for a Criminal Case Management system for the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office and a Notice of Intent for the Legal Entity Designation for the Demolition and Site Revitalization and Brownfield Remediation Grant programs.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.