Lowndes County has a third option to consider for the phone system that will be installed in the county’s new E911 Center, which is set to be operational this summer.
During its Nov. 2 second board meeting, supervisors heard from AT&T technician Robert Johnson, who recommended a new phone system for the center rather than moving the aging existing system into the facility. Supervisors were told moving the existing system, which is no longer supported by Microsoft, would cost $30,000. AT&T said it could provide a new system at a cost of $195,000, but would need six months lead time, putting the supervisors in a position of making a decision quickly.
The supervisors held off on the decision, asking County Administrator Ralph Billingsley to see if other companies could provide a competing offer.
On Tuesday, Billingsley told supervisors another company has expressed interest.
“A company named Integrated Communications has said they would be interested,” Billingsley said. “AT&T had said they needed six months lead time, but Integrated Communications said they needed only eight weeks. When we went back to AT&T, they said they could do it in eight weeks, too, so we have a little more time to make a decision than we thought.”
Billingsley said Integrated Communication quoted a cost of $165,000 while AT&T has dropped its quote to “about $188,000,” Billingsley said.
Billingsley said the contractor on the $1.6 million E911 Center — which will be located just east of the courthouse — said the project should be ready to install the E911 phone system in May.
The county’s E911 Board has the responsibility of making a recommendation of whether to move the existing phone system or purchase a new one, but supervisors have the final say.
“Let’s just be sure we make the right choice here,” District 5 supervisor Leroy Brooks cautioned. “None of us are IT experts, so hopefully we’ll have our county and city IT people look at this. We don’t want to purchase a system that doesn’t work or becomes antiquated as soon as we get it on. I suggest we talk to other counties who have the same systems to see what they have to say.”
Veterans’ Services employees addressed
The board approved hiring a part-time assistant for the county’s Veterans’ Services program while reducing the director’s hours from 32 hours per week to 24 hours per week at the same total pay. Jim Henderson, who directs the program, will now earn $22.67 per hour. He had been earning $15.50 per hour.
Billingsley made the recommendation.
“Jim Henderson has asked us to consider this,” Billingsley said. “As you know, Jim has done a fantastic job for us — there’s probably not a better person in the state at doing what he does. But he’s 80 and he wants to cut back his hours. To make up for that, he’s recommended that we hire Annie Hines, who has been working with him as a volunteer, for 10-to-12 hours a week.”
Brooks asked that the two recommendations be divided.
“I have no problem hiring Annie Hines,” Brooks said. “What I do have a problem with is telling someone they can work fewer hours for the same pay. That’s not what we’re about here. We have a lot of employees who work hard and we’ve been telling them they can’t have a pay raise. Doing this, it’s just not consistent with what we are saying.”
Board president Harry Sanders disagreed.
“I hear what you are saying, Leroy, but what I would say is that at the last meeting, we approved health insurance that went up by about $200 per month and we didn’t pass any of that increase along to the employees,” Sanders said. “So, that’s a raise in a way. Mr. Henderson isn’t on our insurance, so he’s not getting that benefit. I have no problem with what is being proposed.”
The board voted 4-1 to approve the change in Henderson’s work schedule.
The board unanimously approved hiring Hines as a part-time assistant at a pay rate of $11.50 per hour at a maximum of 12 hours per week.
Debris removal change
Road manager Ronnie Burns informed the board that debris removal is likely to come with a cost in the future.
Burns said that the county has used a site in the county to dump the tree limbs and vegetation it collects throughout the county. The owner had used a chipper to grind up the debris, which he sold to Weyerhaeuser. The site has since changed ownership, however, and the new owner said he could not provide the service without a fee to the county.
“What he proposed is $15,000 per year, or $1,250 per month,” Burns said.
Supervisors agreed to the arrangement on a month-to-month basis for the time being, but asked Billingsley to explore other options, including removing the debris to a county-owned site or finding another company in the county that provides a similar service.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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