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<br />CASS CXXJNIY <br />GOVERNMENT <br />..a.. <br /> <br />Auditor <br /> <br />Michael Montiplaisir, CPA <br />701.241.5601 <br /> <br />Treasurer <br /> <br />Charlotte Sandvik <br />701.241.5611 <br /> <br />Director of <br />Equalization <br /> <br />Frank Klein <br />701.241.5616 <br /> <br />Box 2806 <br />211 Ninth Street South <br />Fargo, North Dakota 58103 <br /> <br />Fax 701.241.5728 <br /> <br />www.casscountygov.com <br /> <br />RECEIVED <br />MAR 2 5 2004 <br /> <br />GASS COUNIY COMMISSION <br /> <br />MEMO <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />Cass County Commission <br /> <br />FROM: <br /> <br />Terry Schmaltz, IT Manager <br /> <br />DATE: <br /> <br />Mar 26, 2004 <br /> <br />SUBJECT: <br /> <br />Qwest Contract Renewal <br /> <br />------------------------------------------------------------------------ <br /> <br />Dear Commissioners, <br /> <br />Our existing 5-year contract with Qwest Corporation to provide local telephone <br />service to the County expires in May 2004. Over the last 5 years, changes in <br />technology and competition from other vendors have driven telecommunication costs <br />down. I received quotes for one other vendor and Qwest offered the best rates for <br />comparable services. Qwest is now able to offer substantial savings to Cass County <br />for phone service, reducing our monthly reoccurring costs from $3200.00 to $1200.00 <br />per month. These prices do not include the applicable regulated taxes and fees. <br /> <br />Qwest quoted two methods of providing phone service to the County. Integrated <br />Services Digital Network (ISDN) and our current connection service Digital Switched <br />Service (DSS). Overall with all monthly charges, fees and regulated taxes, the ISDN <br />service would provide about $100 per month savings over the DSS service. The <br />ISDN service provides several advantages over DSS that department heads have <br />requested, such as allowing for Caller- ID which provides some advantages both on <br />incoming and outgoing phone calls. ISDN will allow easier expansion to new <br />services in the future. However, ISDN would require an equipment upgrade to our <br />phone switch of approximately $25,000. <br /> <br />I had a meeting with Mike Montplaisir, Glenn Ellingsberg, Jerry Skjonsby and Keith <br />Berndt to review the quotes and the status of our current phone switch equipment. <br />Our recommendations are that the cost to upgrade to the ISDN system far exceeds the <br />savings that would be realized with the reduction in service costs. However these <br />upgrades will be something we will have to address during the construction of the <br />new courthouse addition. <br /> <br />SUGGESTED MOTION: <br />Move to authorize the chair to sign a 36-month local telephone service contract with <br />Qwest Corporation. <br /> <br />Terry Schmaltz <br />Cass County IT Manager <br />