A desirable computer system includes attributes of reliability and ease of use.  It needs to go through the following processes or SDLC (software development life cycle):

Requirements Gathering

Design

Development

Testing

Deployment and Support

The following factors would also impact the system:

* The design document including user interface screens need to be reviewed with end users to ensure that they would meet with users' need and expectation.

 * Programmers' skills level

*  Programmers' knowledge and desire to understand the subject matter.

It seems it had some real problems for the design and testing.

Suggestion: ask the county to hire a good and responsible programmer to review the system and then possibly improve it.

A side note, talking from a personal level, even in mid 1999, for a system of medium complexity for a landscape architecture organization that I designed and developed while I worked for a company in Virginia.  About three or four month after its deployment I reached out to the organization's director asking him for feedback and he informed me it was working well.