Jasper upgrades technology at City Hall

Arkansas-Ole Miss Live Blog

JASPER, Tenn. - City administrators are implementing significant technology upgrades around City Hall.

Last week, the Jasper Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously to purchase two pieces of software called General Ledger and Payroll from Local Government Corp. in Columbia, Tenn.

Local Government is a private, nonprofit corporation that provides computer services to municipalities in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi.

Mayor Paul Evans said the new software will cost $12,188 and includes annual software support from Local Government.

"This will pretty much put [the city] all on Local Government," he said. "This will start moving us forward."

Alderman Steve Looney said the city's technology is "way behind" most other towns.

"We need to catch up," he said. "All of this is going to make things more efficient, and naturally, a lot quicker. We're doing stuff by hand, and we need to have it in the computer."

Evans said the purchase was recommended by Jasper's chief financial officer, Mark Johnson, and it's "the right move to make."

Officials said the new software will be set up and ready to use as soon as possible.

Jasper also is updating and upgrading its website.

"We've done some redesigning on our website," City Attorney Mark Raines said. "We actually had the public notice of our public hearing [at last week's meeting] on the website."

Evans said he plans to meet with Web designers soon about ideas for the site and about the capabilities it will have.

"Modern technology is a good way to put any kind of public information out to the people," Raines said. "They can access that 24/7. I think the town can really benefit by that."

Residents can log on to www.jasper-tn.com over the next few weeks to see the changes.

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