Kankakee Times

Iroquois County Board met Aug. 20.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The Iroquois County Board met in Emergency Session= at 9:00 A.M. The meeting was conducted in person and electronically, via conference call, under Phase 4 of the Governor’s Plan to reopen the State of Illinois and Executive Order 2020-48. The phased opening and executive order were issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they require social distancing measures to be taken to stop the spread of the highly contagious virus and also suspend certain provisions of the Illinois Open Meetings Act to allow for public bodies to continue their course of business during the public health emergency. Chairman Shure called the meeting to order and asked County Clerk Lisa Fancher to call the roll.

STATE OF ILLINOIS

IROQUOIS COUNTY

Roll call and votes in Iroquois County

Emergency Session, August 20, 2020

Chairman Shure

On motion to call the roll

Aye: Alt, Behrends, Bowers, Crow, Curtis, Duby, Ducat, Huse, Johnson, Offill, Shure, Stichnoth, Whitlow, Young

Absent: Bard, Bohlmann, Coughenour, McGinnis, McTaggart, Zumwalt

PRAYER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mr. Stichnoth gave the opening prayer after which the Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.

CLERK READS CALL FOR EMERGENCY SESSION

County Clerk Lisa Fancher read the call for the Emergency Session:

To Lisa Fancher, County Clerk:

I, the undersigned member of the County Board of Iroquois County, Illinois, do hereby request you to call an emergency special meeting of the County Board of Iroquois County, Illinois, to meet at the Administrative Center in the City of Watseka, Illinois on Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 9:00 A.M. for the purpose of choosing a phone system and a company to install a phone system, which is currently completely out of commission at the Administrative Center.

s/John Shure, County Board Chairman

AGENDA

It was moved by Mr. Alt and seconded to approve the agenda. The motion carried by a roll call vote.

STATE OF ILLINOIS

IROQUOIS COUNTY

Roll call and votes in Iroquois County

Emergency Session, August 20, 2020

Chairman Shure

On motion to approve the agenda

Aye: Alt, Behrends, Bowers, Crow, Curtis, Duby, Ducat, Huse, Johnson, Offill, Shure, Stichnoth, Whitlow, Young

Absent: Bard, Bohlmann, Coughenour, McGinnis, McTaggart, Zumwalt

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

DISCUSSION AND MOTION

The Board discussed the current situation surrounding the phone system at the Administrative Center. On Monday, August 10, 2020 a severe storm knocked out the power and also the phone system at the Administrative Center. Normally, when this happens, Finance Manager Jill Johnson can reset the system; however, this time the reset was unsuccessful. Tim Goodman with Goodman Communications, was contacted and he went through troubleshooting measures over the phone with Jill, concluding the software cartridge was the problem in addition to the lack of resources to obtain an access code required to work on the system. Ruder Technologies was then contacted and they verified the same problem with the system. Ruder was able to provide a temporary fix; however, all lines now ring to the Finance Center and they forward messages on to the appropriate offices via email and to Go Phones, depending on the respective office. Jill explained she obtained quotes from Ruder Technologies and Area-Wide for the replacement of the phone system.

Chairman Shure asked for the parties to step out of the Board Room and explained that they would be called in, individually, to present their proposal because they were two very different proposals.

The Board began discussing the individual proposals. The Ruder proposal was only for the Administrative Center and the affected offices. Ruder Technologies presented a quote for an ESI phone system which is a hardwired system. For the installation and hardware they quoted $27,996. An additional quote for cabling was submitted as most of the cabling in the building needs to be replaced for optimal service. The quote for cabling was $23,485. There is also a yearly maintenance contract bid option for $2,137 per year. The original quote of $28,719 from Area Wide Technologies was for Crexendo Phones, a Cloud I.P. hosted system and was for the hardware in the Administrative Center, Courthouse, and Highway Department. Based on the circumstances, Area Wide was able to provide an option for phones only within the Administrative Center which came to $12,510.05 for the phones and a monthly fee of $613.45 for support. Because the phones are Cloud based, there was no need for a quote for cabling.

It was noted that time is of the essence with getting the phone system up and going; however, both systems would take approximately 3 to 4 weeks for shipping and/or installation. Finance Manager Jill Johnson said she has submitted a claim to insurance for the damage to the phone system; however, she had not heard anything from the insurance company. Any money received from the insurance company would go toward the phones and the remainder could come from the contingency fund. Lastly, it was made known that the phones at the Courthouse and Highway Department are in the same predicament as they currently have the same system as the Administrative Center.

The Board called Jeff Ruder from Ruder Technologies in to answer questions regarding the proposal from his company. He commented that with the type of system in his proposal, should the County lose internet service, they would still have phone service. The life expectancy for the proposed system is approximately 10 years. He said updating the cabling would also increase internet and computer performance within the building as it would be going from CAT5 to CAT6 wire.

Michael Taber from Area Wide Technologies was then called into the room to answer questions regarding the proposal from his company. He commented that Area Wide normally deals with the County’s network system but they have formed a partnership with DNDC Telephone Company which is why they are able to quote and provide phone system service. Michael explained that the phone service would be configured through a web portal and hosted over the internet with all calls going through a data center. He said eventually the County could end ties with AT&T for phone and internet services should the County move to the ICN, Illinois Century Network. The phones would be wireless, could be used anywhere within range, and would not be susceptible to lightening strikes. Michael added that there would also be an activation fee for the phones, but that would be waived.

Discussion continued on the two quotes provided. There were concerns with the cloud based system because it needs the internet to run. With the ESI system, if the internet goes out there would still be phones. Of the 2 systems, Mrs. Johnson found bad reviews for the Crexendo system and very good reviews for the ESI system on the Better Business Bureau website. As discussion came to an end, it was moved by Mr. Ducat and seconded to go forward with the quote from Ruder with cabling, beginning with the Administrative Center. The motion was seconded and carried by a roll call vote.

STATE OF ILLINOIS

IROQUOIS COUNTY

Roll call and votes in Iroquois County

Emergency Session, August 20, 2020

Chairman Shure

On motion to go forward with the quote from Ruder with cabling, beginning with the Administrative Center

Aye: Alt, Behrends, Bowers, Crow, Curtis, Duby, Ducat, Huse, Johnson, McGinnis*, Shure, Stichnoth, Whitlow, Young

Absent: Bard, Bohlmann, Coughenour, McTaggart, Offill, Zumwalt

*joined the meeting after the initial roll call

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Bowers and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 10:53 A.M. The motion carried by a roll call vote. The next County Board meeting will be held in Watseka, IL on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 9 A.M.

STATE OF ILLINOIS

IROQUOIS COUNTY

Roll call and votes in Iroquois County

Emergency Session, August 20, 2020

Chairman Shure

On motion to adjourn

Aye: Alt, Behrends, Bowers, Crow, Curtis, Duby, Ducat, Huse, Johnson, McGinnis, Shure,Stichnoth, Whitlow, Young

Absent: Bard, Bohlmann, Coughenour, McTaggart, Offill, Zumwalt

http://www.co.iroquois.il.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Emergency-Session-Final.pdf