County leases space from Minden for data storage

After last week’s phone outage at the historic Minden Courthouse, county officials are likely more than ready to move their data center to a new location.

The outage occurred on Thursday and was caused by hardware issues, according to the county, affecting all of the offices inside the 105-year-old building. While phone service was restored by Friday afternoon, it was a reminder that the technology of the 21st Century might not be a good fit for the architecture of the early 20th.

Keeping modern data in the basement of a building constructed in 1916 has raised eyebrows from auditors in recent years.

Douglas County’s data center is located in the basement of the historic courthouse, which is located in a possible flood zone.

The location also gets a lot of volume in and out affecting its security.

County officials approved a lease agreement Jan. 20 with the Town of Minden to move the data center to the upper floor of the Minden Public Works Building at 1330 Buckeye Road.

Minden’s staff is currently only actively using the bottom floor of the building. The upper story is already being used as the data center for the town.

“The location is ideal for many reasons, such as being secure, a remote location, already has necessary communications,” town officials wrote.

Early last year the county manager’s office and the town staff discussed the option.

Town Board members approved a lease for $450 a month, plus $50 for utilities, for the 216-square-foot space.

Over the course of the 10 years, the lease would generate $54,000 for the town.