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LOCK HAVEN -- The Clinton County Board of Commissioners will consider a Capital Purchase request from the county's IT Department at its meeting Tuesday.
The request would involve the purchase of new switches at the 911 Communication Center in Flemington.
IT Director Ernie Jackson broke down the request during the board's work session on Monday morning.
Jackson said the goal is to replace six switches in total -- three at the end of 2023 and three in early 2024.
"There are currently seven switches at the Comm. Center," he said. "Our plan is to replace three of them towards the end of this year and then early next year, likely February, replace three more so we have six of them close within age and with the same model number."
Jackson said replacing the switches would make it easier for center employees to talk and work with each.
The total cost initially forecasted for the project was $35,000. Jackson said after receiving quotes from multiple vendors, the best cost came out at $35,722.
Due to other line items in the department's budget coming under expected costs, Jackson said the extra $722 could be pulled from another line item.
Commissioner Angela Harding asked if, with the purchases being separated, the department would need to obtain quotes again in 2024.
"Yes, we'll go through the whole process again," he said.
Jackson also explained the final two switches left in the department could be changed at a different time as they're on "stand alone service."
"We're going to get that in the following year," he said. "It doesn't have to be the same model number."
The other six switches would need to have the same model number.
"These six we would like to all be the same number because we're going to do a process that we call stacking of the switches," he said. "That way they (employees) can all communicate with each other."
Board Chair Miles Kessinger asked if grant funding for the county's on-going 911 Motorola Tower project could be used to purchase the switches for the communication center.
Kessinger said the county's planner, Steve Gibson, said there would be some remaining funds left over from that project. The county received three total grants for its tower projects that included a CDBG 1st Competitive, CDBG 2nd Competitive and a USDA Grant.
"There's a possibility since we got that grant to redo the county 911 center, it can be used. So it isn't an expense to the county," Kessinger said.
Jonathan Plessinger, county emergency services director, said he would look into the potential before Thursday's voting session.