Van Buren offices to get phone system upgrade

A security enhancement is in the works for city offices across Van Buren, but it will not be seen with the naked eye.

The improvement will come by the way of a new emergency alert system that is tied into a new phone system expected to be installed within the next five weeks, according to Wes Cleland, GIS coordinator and information technology manager at the city of Van Buren.

"We've identified personnel, department heads, that will be notified as soon as a call is made to 911," he said.

Cleland said the current system leaves city staffers in the dark should an emergency occur within the city's municipal complex on Broadway in downtown Van Buren.

"Currently, if somebody were to call 911 from the district court side, the mayor has no idea what is going on," he said.

The mayor's office sits across the building from the court.

At a city council meeting on March 18, Mayor Bob Freeman spoke of other security capabilities associated with the system.

"It will interface with our computers, with our desktops," he said. "One of the things we can do is if we program a code blue, and we decide what a code blue is … anybody in this office can hit a button and it will alert everybody in the building that there's a reason to (be) alert, that there's a security issue."

The new phone system, approved at the March 18 council meeting, was purchased through a state purchase contract for $37,423.75.

Freeman said at the time that the purchase of the new phone system was a necessity, not necessarily due to security concerns, but due to the fact that the previous system was outdated.

"The original driver behind this was the current hardware system … is no longer supported," he said. "So when these phones break, if there's no repair parts, they're done."

When shopping for the new system, Freeman said several different options were explored before settling on the new system. One of the new technologies that was explored was voice over Internet protocol, he said.

"We ended up deciding we wanted to go with the same system we have in place now as far as the way the phone lines are carried and not voice over Internet protocol, at this point," he said. "A year or two after that system matures, we may (consider it)."

Cleland said the new system, while based on the same framework as the old system, does introduce new technologies that help the city function, even when emergencies strike.

"We're moving from a traditional, standard phone to an IT-based phone," he said. "The benefit is that it is self-hosted, so even if the AT&T service goes down, we'll be able to communicate locally."

Aside from the security aspect, the system also brings the city into the 21st century in regards to operations, he said.

"We can determine who is on the phone. So if we need to forward a call to the fire chief at station one, we can determine if he's on the phone or if the caller needs to leave a voicemail, stuff like that," he said.

The new phones will be installed across all city offices, excluding the police department, Cleland said.

The reason for not installing the new system at the police department, he said, is because of the upcoming construction of a new facility at the former Sherman's Grocery store location atop Log Town Hill. Once construction is complete, the police department will join the rest of the city offices on the new system.

And while $37,423.75 is a large amount to pay for a system, Freeman said the ongoing operating costs associated with the new system will actually save the city money in the long run.

He said the city paid $3,400 in February for phone-related expenses. Moving to the system, he told the council, would drop the monthly expense to $2,400 in the first year of operations.

By the time the police department comes on board, the bill could go up slightly, but after five years, the monthly expense will drop to $1,473.

"So it's a phase-in process, but right off the bat, we're going to save $1,000 a month with the new system," he said. "That includes everything and at that point, we own all of the phones. All we're paying for at that point is the lines."