FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to enter into a contract with GWI for a new phone system for the courthouse, the jail, the new communications center and the Sheriff’s Department office.
Commissioners also authorized county Clerk Julie Magoon to sign the four agreements with the company as needed for the system. The annual cost is $17,544.
The system will be operated by GWI. The equipment will be off site instead of in a county building. Payment for the new system will be included in the 2014-15 county budget.
A reserve account was set up last year with $10,000 for a phone system. That money can be used to cover the rest of the year so no bond money will be touched, Magoon said. The county took out a bond to build the new dispatch center.
Officials knew for the past few years that a new phone system was needed because the current one is more than 15 years old and is obsolete, Magoon said Wednesday. It is very difficult to find parts to repair the system, she said.
The first phones to be installed will be at the new dispatch center to coincide with installation of the new 911 equipment April 25. The projected installation date has been extended since January.
Dispatchers are still working from their old space in the Sheriff’s Department office, which is across the driveway.
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