Phone System

The phone system used within the city had a failure about a year and half ago.  The failure resulted in the system going down completely and almost all of the memory of stored information was lost.  The current system is no longer made, parts are sketchy, and technical expertise was hard to find.  We were lucky in the sense that we found a firm with individuals willing to help us put it back together.  They found a replacement circuit board that got the system running however a few of the functions we had with the original system were lost, we were however able to carry on. 

Given we were on borrowed time we budgeted for a replacement phone system for 2017.  That was the easy part; phones are no longer just something you plug into the wall.  Systems now do far more than just route calls.  In addition many phone systems are internet based meaning the phone service runs over the internet.  This brings other features to the fore front that would not be available in the past.  Sorting through all of this was both educational and confusing.  Too many choices and too many new things to consider. 

In any event the city worked with a consultant to find the solution that best meet our needs. The city will be purchasing the equipment and hiring the installation.  The system will require some wiring to make connections.  With that change a new switch is required and a number of hardware upgrades to the communication system are needed.  The current system connects both phones and internet between the Public Safety Building and City Hall with a fiber cable.  The new system will utilize this fiber but connectors at each end will need to be upgraded.  And yes, we will be seeing new phones on desks throughout both buildings. 

We had budgeted $14,000 based on previous quotes but we were able to get the cost down to about $9,500.  Progress has started but the turn over may take a month or two to accomplish.  In the meantime we’ll be busy with making changes to the communication network in the City Hall.  The Public Safety Building is current regarding wiring and houses the computer server so little work is needed there but it all comes down to it is a work in progress until it is completed. 

Bigfoot

The Park equipment in City Park is approaching 20 years old and we have seen our second failure with a slide in the past 3 years.  The majority of the equipment is heavy polyurethane plastic.  It is very durable but when it fails there is no repair.  A replacement is needed.  The slide that recently failed is a triple slide known as a big-foot slide. 

Replacement parts are available and with any park equipment it is rather expensive.  Almost half the cost of this replacement part is shipping from the factory.  With shipping the replacement bigfoot slide came to about $5,200.   The city council agreed to this purchase using reserve funds.  The current parks capital budget in intended for new features and using those funds diminishes our ability to establish them.  Using reserves allows the replacement to be funded from another source however the council would like to see funds budgeted for replacement equipment.  A line item will be applied to the 2018 budget to help fund these types of needs. 

The replacement slide has been ordered and will be installed upon its arrival.  It is unclear when this might be received but based on the last replacement it will likely be here in 3 to 4 weeks.