Great Bend City Council meeting at a glance
Here is a quick look at what the Great Bend City Council did Tuesday night:
• Kansas Wetlands Education Center Director Curtis Wolf presented the annual report for 2021.
• Heard from Chad Burroughs and Kevin Stansfield with the Great Bend Fire Department.
Both made pleas for the council to approve the city changing to the Kansas Police and Fire pension plan for first responders. That is one of the options available to the council utilizing the new .20% sales tax dedicated to public safety personnel pensions.
• Set a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. April 18 for a property at 205 Frey St.
Building Inspector Logan Burns conducted a visual inspection of a house and noted the camper and mobile home located on this property were both considered unsafe structures due electrical issues, water line and sewer line issues and inadequate ventilation of utilities. Both the camper and mobile home had fireplaces that were unsafe.
A hearing was previously set for Feb. 21 but the council meeting was moved to the 22nd so new notice is being given with this resolution.
• Approved a bid from Nex-Tech for $66,410.40 for a new city phone system.
• Heard a report from City Administrator Kendal Francis. He focused on the formulation of a Quality of Life Committee made up of city officials and community members. The goal is to look at uses for the recently approved city sales tax for quality of life issues.
He also discussed the need for seasonal part-time help for maintenance, grounds keeping and lifeguarding.
• Heard a report from Christina Hayes, community coordinator and Convention and Visitors Bureau director. She noted that the nomination forms for the Home for the Holidays grand marshal are now available.
• Approved abatements for trash and refuse violations at: 810 Baker Ave., Alan Curtis; 2525 16th St., Joseph Peschka Jr.; 2001 Holland St., Armando Garcia; 1608 Broadway Ave., Stueder Rentals LLC; 2223 Adams St., WHB Inc.; and 915 Stone St., Walter Family Ent. Inc.
• Approved abatements for motor vehicle violations at: 1015 Holland St., Corky Moore; 2429 Cheyenne Dr., Keller Real Estate; 408 Hickory St., Harold Bennett; and 414 Pine St., Shawn Clair.
Noting that telephones ares an important tool and a connection to the public, the Great Bend City Council Tuesday night approved a bid from Nex-Tech for $66,410.40 for a new city phone system.
“As the city continues to upgrade technology, we are finding the current phone system is quickly becoming outdated and unable to grow with business,” said Network Administrator James Cell. “I’ve been working on this for a while” upgrading computers, printers and servers before moving the the phones.
The phones themselves are no longer made which requires the to either obtain refurbished phones or phones that have been sitting on the shelf for several years. The fact that not all city offices are on the same system, such as the airport, makes things worse, he said.
The current phone system is unable to do conferencing or voice mail forwarding without adding new cards and licensing which takes away the flexibility and availability for certain call options, he said. It is also vulnerable to outages, so weather will disrupt service (which happens often).
And, “it has no maintenance contract so anytime we need adjustments or replacements we are paying $400 travel fee on top of $175 an hour rate for
service,” Cell said.
The current phone system can’t support remote call capability if office was shut down due to COVID or a disaster, Cell said. Now, several departments are on different phone connections.
The city needs ability to seamlessly setup a user to work from home or another location if unable to report to office location. And, they need the ability to add a phone line that isn’t connected to an office phone - the current system is unable to do that.
A cloud phone system offers many features that they are currently lacking and gives employees anytime, anywhere access via smartphone, desk phone or softphone (software for making calls over the Internet using a computer rather than dedicated hardware), he said. Cloud fax would remove need for analog lines and create savings as faxes would then come in via cloud bases to be accessed from any location.
It would improve call quality and reliability, as well as the ability to offer on-hold music and play announcements while callers are waiting. And, it is important in terms of improved customer service.
In addition, a cloud-based communications system is likely to be unaffected by outside factors such as severe weather or other Issues that may keep employees from getting to the office, allowing the city to maintain a consistent presence and keep things running smoothly.
“A phone system gets taken for granted,” he said. “It is what makes or breaks productivity within a department or organization, it is how we communicate internally and externally.”
The city received several bids and the low bid was from Nex-Tech. The monthly phone service cost would increase approximately by $345 per year.
Cell said the city has $40,000 set aside for the project.
