The Marshall County offices will be getting an upgrade in telephones thanks to action taken by the county commissioners Monday morning.
IT Director Michael Marshall said the decision had been looming over the past year, but now a decision has to be made in order to move forward with the project.
“I talked with New Paris, our current phone provider, and they were not able to offer up any solutions that I felt were in the best interest of the county. So, it looks like we’re moving forward whether we want to or not,” said Marshall.
Marshall said he’s reviewed several offers from companies, but settled with Hyperwave. He said the company can provide extra value where others cannot.
“If we go with their service for voice, they’re going to bring in their own internet service where they can control the quality of service. That particular circuit can be used as our failover circuit in the event the Metronet goes down again, allowing us to cancel our Comcast circuit, saving us an additional $200 a month on top of what the phone service is going to save us anyway.”
The monthly bill is expected to be nearly $3,000 a month.
On top of everything else, Hyperwave is located in Plymouth.
Marshall said he’d like to get started with cabling the Marshall County Courthouse and other infrastructure to prepare for the service, but needs approval from the governing body before he can begin.
There is money allocated for the project in the communications line item in the IT budget.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger will review changes made with payment arrangements and Mike Miley will review the insurance aspect of the contract. Once those changes are satisfactory, the agreement will go into effect as approved by the commissioners. Paperwork will be available for signature next week.
