Supervisors Designate Phone Vendor

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Supervisors held a brief meeting Monday morning and quickly dispensed with several items of consideration. One of the items of discussion concerned a new phone system for the Courthouse. Daren Hite, IT Specialist for Mahaska County, said that the county began looking at a new phone system back in April. Hite said that he had five vendors come in and do a “meet and greet” as well as a demonstration for the IT steering committee. Hite said that all five that submitted a bid did not include the same amount of phones for the courthouse.

He said that after the bids were submitted, he reviewed which group had the highest number of phones quoted in the bid, and then pared it down to groups with no more than three types of phone models. Hite said that he and the IT steering committee then reviewed the bids and came to a conclusion as to which bid to award. Hite said that he and the IT steering committee recommended that the county go with SCI, of Des Moines, as the phone vendor. He said that he intends to include the project in his upcoming budget for the 2018 fiscal year.

Ultimately, the supervisors approved Hite’s recommendation to name SCI as the phone vendor.

In other action, the Supervisors:

· Approved payroll changes for the jail.
· Approved homestead, military, agland, and family farm tax credits for FY2018.
· Received a report from Supervisor Mark Doland on a Jail Alternatives Program. Doland stated that the jail, through the mental health region, is in the process of developing a program for inmates to receive mental health counseling. No action was taken on Doland’s report.
· Denied a secondary road option to purchase land from the DOT.

The next meeting of the Mahaska County Supervisors will be on December 19 at 9 a.m. in the Supervisors’ meeting room.