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Commissioners postpone phone-maintenance vote after staff cite 911 reliability concerns
Summary
After county staff described repeated phone outages and 911 reliability issues, the Pittsburg County commissioners postponed a decision on a phone maintenance renewal and directed staff to revisit the item at the July 13 meeting.
Pittsburg County commissioners postponed action July 6 on a proposed annual phone-system maintenance renewal after staff described recurring problems affecting emergency communications.
Chairman Ross Selman said reliable phone service is necessary "for the Sheriff." County staff members Jeff Daniels and Emergency Management Director Leo Baughman told the board they prefer switching to an alternate vendor, NewEra, rather than renewing the existing VIP Technology maintenance contract because of ongoing service issues. Frankie McClendon told the commissioners he had discussed the concerns with the district attorney and characterized the problems as a safety issue linked to 911 reliability.
Selman moved to postpone consideration of the maintenance renewal to the board's July 13 meeting; the motion carried unanimously. County staff did not present a formal vendor contract for NewEra at the July 6 meeting and provided no cost comparison; commissioners directed staff to return with additional information at the next meeting.
The board took no procurement action July 6 and left the maintenance item on the agenda for further review.
