The Shelby County Supervisors approved a new telephone system for the Shelby County Courthouse. In a meeting this (Tuesday) morning, Shelby County Assessor Tony Buman explained that a committee made up of himself, Treasurer Carolyn Blum and Recorder Linda Fahn, worked on going out for bids for the new telephone system. He called the current courthouse telephone system is outdated and most of the parts can not be ordered if something goes wrong. The committee received bids from Farmer’s Mutual Cooperative Telephone Company (FMCTC), Mytel and Off Kilter Media.

Buman said “We looked at all three of them. We looked at some of the systems provided by them. We looked at the costing and so on. And our recommendation is unanimous to go with Farmer’s Mutual. Not only are they are current provider, they offer a product that does not upgrading to a network system which would be a little bit more complex in running. It was also the least pricing of all three proposals as well.”

Buman added, the bids were not exactly alike which is why there was a discrepancy in the amount per company. The bid from FMCTC was for $15,080.37. The Supervisors approved the bid with a vote of 2-0 with board member Roger Schmitz having to abstain due to being a member of the FMCTC board. One talking point was an emergency button service in every room of the courthouse which would tie into the new phone system.

The Supervisors agreed they needed more information on what would need to be installed at the courthouse before making a decision on the matter. In other business, the Shelby County Board of Supervisors approved a disaster declaration for the county presented by Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)