Jefferson County Supervisors discuss cloud phone system

FAIRFIELD – The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors met Monday, Jan. 19 and discussed a proposal to swap out the county’s landline phones for a cloud-based phone system.

Gordon Flesch Company representative Andrew Longfellow addressed the supervisors over Zoom to talk about the services his company offers and what it was willing to provide for the county. Just as the supervisors were about to dig into the price quote and details about the phone systems, County Engineer DeWayne Heintz asked the board if they wanted to get quotes from other companies, too, before revealing Gordon Flesch’s quote.

The supervisors noted that they weren’t required by law to put such a project out for bids because it was under the limit, though supervisors Susie Drish and Joe Ledger were open to taking bids from other companies. Supervisor Lee Dimmitt said that soliciting a Request for Proposal (RFP) would require the supervisors to first establish what they want the phone system to do, or else the county would receive quotes for different projects. He said he wasn’t sure there was another local company that could do what Gordon Flesch Company was proposing, and that going out for bids would itself entail expenses.

The supervisors agreed that they should first find out from their department heads what they need in a phone system, and then they can revisit the issue at a later meeting. The supervisors will be meeting with all the department heads this week for budget planning purposes.

Dimmitt asked Longfellow what would happen to the county’s phone system if Gordon Flesch “went away,” and he said the company is worth $220 million and has branches in seven states.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he said.

Gordon Flesch Company has an office at 406 W. Burlington Ave. in Fairfield.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com