Title
Assessor's Office recommending the Board approve and authorize the Purchasing Agent to execute the annual order forms for the continuance of front desk email management software tools included in Perpetual Agreement 6345 with Just Appraised, Inc. in the estimated amount of $13,524 for the period of October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2029, contingent upon approval by County Counsel and Risk Management as applicable.
FUNDING: General Fund.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Front Desk is a digital helpdesk platform designed for local government. It centralizes inquiries from multiple channels-emails, phone calls, walk-ins, and website chats into one easy-to-manage system. At this time, the El Dorado County Assessor's Office will only be using the email functionality. Through secure email forwarding, Front Desk ingests messages from existing public inboxes, applies AI-powered tagging and categorization, and routes them to the appropriate team or staff member. Employees gain access to a shared inbox, AI-assisted draft responses, and a continually updated knowledge base, improving both efficiency and accuracy.
The Assessor's Office contract with Just Appraised covers two applications. The first is a verification software tool that extracts text from recorded documents and automatically populates information into the Property Tax System, saving significant data-entry time and reducing input errors. Approval for this portion of the contract was granted by the Board of Supervisors with Legistar file 23-0899 and later with Legistar file 26-0969.
The contract also includes the Front Desk application referenced in today’s item. The initial order form for Front Desk was approved by the Board of Supervisors under Legistar file 25-1522, amending Perpetual Agreement 6345 with Just Appraised, Inc. to add email management functionality at an annual cost of $11,748, increasing the total annual contract amount to $61,748, with a term from July 1, 2023, through September 30, 2026. This current item seeks approval to continue the perpetual contract and maintain use of the Front Desk application for an additional three years in compliance with Board Policy C-17 Procurement Policy. The Front Desk module has a cost of $4,248 for the period of October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027. The Procurement Policy requires Board approval every three years for perpetual agreements. The Assessor’s Office is seeking Board approval for two additional years with an annual subscription increase of up to 5%, as outlined in Attachment A. If approved, the current annual cost of all Just Appraised modules will be $55,748.
ALTERNATIVES
If not approved the Assessor’s Office could manually enter data into the Property Tax System, which would slow down the change in ownership processing times and manually track emails and correspondence to the Assessor's Office.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
Legistar file 22-0248 - March 15, 2022 - Board of Supervisors approval on for the initial implementation and original order form for services of Just Appraised software.
Legistar file 23-0899 - June 6, 2023 - Board of Supervisors approval for the continuance of the perpetual agreement 6345 for $50,000, for the term July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2026, for real estate verification software.
Legistar file 26-0969 - June 16, 2026 - Board of Supervisors approval for the continuance of the perpetual agreement 6345 for $159,181 for the period of July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029, for real estate sales verification software.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
County Counsel
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
No change to Net County Cost. The expenses are budgeted in the Assessor’s Office annual operating budget.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Good Governance
CONTACT
Jon DeVille, Assessor