PARKERSBURG –The Wood County Commission wants the county elected officials to decide on software that best serves their needs as the county is looking at new software for county systems.

The county’s current software provider, Co-File formally CSSI, sent a letter to the commission stating they would no longer be able to service their software after Sept. 30.

“If we have a glitch in the system or bad data that needs to be fixed they would not be there to assist,” Couch said.

The Wood County Sheriff’s Tax Office, the Assessor, the County Clerk and others all run specific software for their offices, Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said.

“We are working very diligently to have robust software that can handle all the requirements,”

The county’s Information Technology people and other county officials are looking at other software companies with different officials liking different aspects of what some of the companies were offering.

Couch said the commission doesn’t want to declare one company as the only software provider and have everyone else try to make that system work.

“We are not going to go back to the days where they wrote everything out long-hand,” he said.

County officials worry that a department head picks something and later determines it is not what they want. However, the county is giving the elected officials the ability to decide. He wants to make sure services continue to be provided and officials can keep track of it and make it transparent for the public.

“We are here to assist even if they do have a problem with some software we will help,” Couch said. “Their eyes are wide open. They understand our concerns. We want to make sure everything runs smooth for the taxpayers and the citizens.”

In other business:

* The commission approved a Firmware maintenance contract to service radio equipment used by emergency responders in the area.

* The commission announced a vacancy on the Wood County Recreation Commission .

* The commission appointed Tracy Brown and Doug Kreinik to the Wood County Alternative Transportation System Council.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com