Brookfield Township’s government offices soon will have a new phone system and information technology service.
For years, the township has had those services through Commlink, a Brookfield company, but a recent server crash and repair estimate of $4,890 pushed officials to shop around.
The township has been without voicemail or call-in options to route calls to employees.
Full Service Network of Pittsburgh has been hired to provide new phone stations; auto attendant, which routes calls; fax line; a quick-dial sidecar for the office coordinator; and a phone app that allows officials to make business-related calls from their personal phones, but through the township phone system, so they do not have to publicize personal phone numbers.
FSN will charge $355 a month, a savings of $45 a month from what Commlink has charged, said Office Coordinator Tabatha Dickson. The township also has to pay a $250 activation fee.
The contract is for five years, but rates will not go up as long as Brookfield Township is a customer, said Trustee Dan Suttles.
FSN will evaluate the current hardware the township owns and save whatever is useful, Suttles said. There will be no charge for new equipment.
“For saving money, getting better assistance, a better program, better equipment, it’s pretty much a no-brainer,” said Trustee Mark Ferrara.
The installation date for the new equipment is Nov. 22, Dickson said.
Officials received a proposal from a second company, but it did not offer a lifetime warranty or 24-hour support and charged for service calls, Dickson said.
For IT, the township went with Ford Office Technologies, which is based in Connellsville, Pa., but has offices in Hermitage and Niles. The company will provide email service, computer security and maintenance with 24-hour monitoring, cloud storage and training for employees on cyberthreats.
Reserve police officer Scott Pflug, whose day job is computer security for a bank, looked over the three proposals and recommended Ford, said Police Chief Aaron Kasiewicz.
One of the proposals was cheaper than Ford’s, but the company did not respond to requests for additional information, Dickson said.
The township will pay Ford $24,096 a year based on the current number of computers, with the cost split between the general government and the police, fire and road departments. The contract term is three years.
Commlink charged $19,000 in 2022 and $21,000 in 2023.
The general fund will start paying its share of the cost, projected to be $340 a month; up to now, the police department had absorbed that cost. The road department, which had been paying $13 a month, will see its bill jump to $340 a month.
A Ford representative reached by phone during a trustees meeting Oct. 25 said the company will perform a best-practices review of township equipment; install patching software; set up cybersecurity training; assess computers for memory, age and warranty; conduct a vulnerability review of the building; check for firewalls; monitor township systems; and provide 24-hour technical support.
The township will be responsible for buying any new equipment needed and can buy from Ford or an outside vendor, the rep said.
