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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission awarded the phone bids Monday for county offices and the new Wood County 911 Center.
The commission unanimously approved the bid from IPC Technologies of Glen Allen, Va., for $122,693.24 for a phone system for county offices.
IT Systems/Network Administrator Chris Whittaker said the bid met all of their needs.
"It covers ongoing support, maintenance and everything," he said.
It was the lowest bid of the ones submitted, although officials said that was not the deciding factor. Officials reviewed technical specs, maintenance/service plans and more.
"It is a good thing the low bid does everything you need it to," Wood County Administrator Marty Seufer said.
Whittaker believed the system could be installed within 10-12 weeks once the project is started and will also include Wood County Magistrate Court and the new Wood County Resiliency Center. The county already has a support contract with the company.
The commission unanimously awarded the bid for the Wood County 911 Center to Netranom of Hurricane, W.Va., for $35,879.18.
The commission only received two bids for the 911 Center phone system.
Wood County 911 personnel said the other bid was a cloud-based internet phone system. However, being an emergency management agency, they cannot count on internet to have their telephones work.
They have worked with Netranom in the past and they did the current phone system for the original 911 center on Core Road.
They said cloud-based internet systems are becoming commonplace for businesses, but if the internet goes down there is no phone system so it would not work for an emergency communication operation.
Once verbal approval is given to the company, they will start ordering equipment. They estimated the job could take four to five weeks to complete, once it is started.
In other business, the commission approved the hiring of Noelle Aldridge as a deputy clerk in the Wood County Clerk's Office.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com