Subject: [NEXTEL-1] County aims to streamline cellphones

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 23:39:24 -0500

County aims to streamline
cellphones

GENESEE COUNTY

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION

Sunday, March 30, 2003

By Ron Fonger
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Genesee County - Left to find their own
deals on cellular phones, county
employees are ringing up more than
$10,000 in monthly charges - enough for
some officials to consider taking over the
search for wireless communications.

A new report by county bookkeepers
shows a patchwork system of spending
on cellular services, including 17 different
calling plans for 250-plus phones at a
projected cost of more than $125,000 for
the current budget year.

The county Board of Commissioners
asked for the report and another on
take-home county cars earlier this year
expecting to find ways to cut their budget.

Days after receiving the report,
commissioners already were talking
about saving money by negotiating a
countywide deal for cellphones and
dropping the individual contracts used by
county departments.

"That's probably not going to make a lot
of people happy, but we're going to do
what's best for the county, not what's best
for each department,'' said board
Chairman Richard E. Hammel.

"To me, I know one vendor would make
sense.''

After allowing departments
independence and latitude on cellphone
oversight for years, Commissioner Rose
Bogardus, D-Davison, also is suggesting
a universal policy for cellphone use rather
than relying on administrators to police
their own employees.

The county report only includes cellphone service in
December and January and does not include detailed bills
showing which employees in each department spent the most.

The report shows the county Health Department (62),
Community Action Resource Department (53), and Parks &
Recreation Commission (42) have issued cellphones to the
most employees.

Health Officer Robert Pestronk said
department-by-department management of phone service
reflects the decentralized nature of county government.

"Departments are quite different from one another,'' Pestronk
said.

Some departments need calling plans that allow for heavy use
while others need them only for emergencies, he said.

The Health Department has more phones issued to
employees than any other county division or department but
one of the lowest costs per phone.

Undersheriff James Gage said Sheriff's Department
command officers would not want to lose Nextel phones that
may cost more than others but include a two-way radio feature
that saves on calls and helps them to better do their job.

Gage said those employees who have received cellphones
are held responsible for their use. Three times, he said, he's
forced employees to pay for personal calls made on wireless
time paid for by the county.

"Every single bill that comes in here I scrutinize to be sure they
stay within their minutes,'' Gage said.

Cellular spending apparently has dropped slightly since a
2001 review by The Flint Journal despite lower retail costs and
intense competition among companies.

A review of county cellphone costs by The Journal in 2001
showed overall cellphone spending increased sharply -?rom
$88,079 in fiscal year 1999 to $139,779 in the 2000 fiscal
year.

At that time, cellular industry representatives said the county
could save from a single contract, but commissioners never
acted.

http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-11/1049035856146220.xml

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