The Covington County Commission on Tuesday considered updating and enhancing software at the county jail and the sheriff’s department.

Administrator Karen Sowell said that the commission needed more time to have some questions answered about the software.

The software is used as a record system and keeps up with pistol permits.

“We were looking at other systems to switch to,” Sheriff Dennis Meeks said. “We were having issues with the one we originally bought, but the company was bought out and then over the years it was bought again by the original owners so we are looking to do some upgrades and enhancements instead of completely switching software.”

Sowell said that the commission is going to talk to the Association of County Commissions of Alabama for more recommendations about the software.

Along with the upgrades, the commission discussed additional features that would be added to the software.

“We are looking at a barcode scanner,” Meeks said. “It will help classify inmates a lot easier.”

Meeks said that this additional feature would make the booking process a lot easier.

“We want to make sure that we classify people correctly,” Meeks said. “We don’t want a person who committed a terrible crime in the same area as a person who didn’t pay child support, and this will help with that.”

The commission also:

• Considered approving abatements for the Shaw facility upgrade. The commission is still waiting on documents from Shaw officials.
• Reappointed Thomas Hugghins, Sonny Bedsole and Cory Spurlin to the E-911 board. This appointment will be another four-year term.
• Approved transferring $2,100 from the general fund to the engineer department to fix a dumpster and a busted pipe at Florala High School.