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County Receives National Award for eBond Program

Posted/updated on: June 18, 2014 at 1:39 pm
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image002TYLER — Smith County has received the prestigious National Association of Counties Achievement Award for developing a first-of-its-kind electronic bond posting system that has streamlined the process of bonding individuals out of jail and saved the County thousands of dollars in labor. That’s according to a county news release. The “Smith County eBond Program” was awarded the Achievement Award for the category of Information Technology, which highlights outstanding innovation and advancement of information technology in county governments, according to the release.

Officials say developing the program required the collaboration of multiple county offices, including the IT Department, Pre-Trial Release, Sheriff’s Office, and Justice of the Peace offices. These individual offices came together to find an original and cost-effective solution to ensure the bonding process could continue uninterrupted as renovations were being made to the Downtown Jail site, according to the news release. “These individuals collaborated to develop the very first electronic bonding application,” Smith County Chief Technology Officer Don Bell said. “We are the very first ones who have been able to do this, and we have caught the attention of many other counties across the State.”

The eBond Program provides an electronic forum for bondsmen and county employees to access and process required legal forms and post monetary transactions, making the bonding procedure safer and more efficient for all parties involved, according to officials. They say it eliminates the time- consuming and labor-intensive task of physically receiving, processing, and archiving bond paperwork and payments for each inmate. After electronically processing more than 8,600 cases in the past year, Smith County reports an approximate savings of more than $100,000 in labor and supplies.

“It is a huge honor to be recognized at the national level. People all over the country are looking at this program and I think it is going to go far,” County Judge Joel Baker said. “This program is saving time and money for the County and its citizens.”



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