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15 <br />d. Telephone System Upgrades <br />This item was presented by Pam Jones, Director of Purchasing and Central Services. She asked <br />that the County Commissioners consider upgrades to the County telephone system in the amount of $98,684 <br />to improve service and achieve Y2K compliance. This will also provide a higher level of service to the public <br />by allowing them the option of dialing directly to a department without routing through the automated <br />attendant. The current telephone system was installed in the spring of 1990. During the Y2K inventory <br />process, it came to staff's attention that the software version presently operating our telephone system will <br />not operate after December 31, 1999. The cost of the upgrade to mitigate this problem is $82,684. The cost <br />of this upgrade will be funded through the use of existing funds in the Central Services Budget <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked about after-hour voice-mail for employees. Pam Jones indicated that <br />employees with voice-mail currently have after-hour voice mail. The upgrade does include the option where <br />you can type in the last name of the employee and the system will automatically connect to their extension. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve <br />the expenditure of funds for the Y2K upgrade for the phone system in the amount of $82,684 and to endorse <br />the Direct Inward Dial (DID) proposal, approve the associated costs in the amount of $16,000 for installation <br />and authorize staff to move forward with implementation <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />e. Value Engineering - Possibilities for County-funded Projects <br />This item was presented by John Link so that the Board of County Commissioners could discuss <br />the results of the investigation into ways to ensure that construction and major renovation projects funded by <br />the County are properly designed to meet both County and School needs within available resources. He <br />mentioned that he met with a subcommittee consisting of Commissioners Halkiotis and Brown, Pam Jones, <br />and Paul Thames. They discussed the criteria, process and outcomes that could be achieved through the <br />use of value engineering. The committee presumed a threshold of $100,000 that would trigger a project <br />being included in the value engineering. That threshold is the amount at which advertised, sealed bids are <br />required for construction and/or renovation work. The three issues which were deemed important by the <br />subcommittee are listed below: <br />1) Outcomes must be articulated in advance of any value-engineering initiative. <br />2) The second critical element to initiating value engineering into County funded projects is identification of <br />the process by which value engineering is carried out. <br />3) The third element critical to ensuring the success of value engineering is to discuss steps that the Board <br />could approve to enhance our resource management abilities in light of the potential savings this initiative <br />should yield. <br />This report, in its entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. <br />Commissioner Jacobs spoke in support of value engineering and in particular he supports <br />pursuing the amended procedures to allocate funds for capital projects. He also supported applying the same <br />standards to County government that are being applied to other units of government. He stated that the <br />threshold was too low at $100,000. He does not feel that significant savings will be achieved at a threshold <br />of $100,000 and that it should be set at $500,000. He also suggested looking at what the school or county <br />staff could continue to manage, such as providing inspections or dealing with warranty issues, in order to <br />keep the cost managed. He wants to be sure that the schools are more involved in the decision-loop and <br />feels the schools should have an opportunity to comment and/or object early in the process. <br />Commissioner Carey spoke in support of the value-engineering concept. He would like to have <br />the project use $100,000 as a starting point. After the project is evaluated that figure could be changed. He <br />also felt that the lines of communication need to be strengthened so that the other elected officials have <br />sufficient input early in the process. He said that the means of evaluating the effectiveness of value <br />engineering should not be based only on financial savings but also lifecycle cost savings. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that originally the threshold was $3 million dollars which would have <br />Q \19990504A.a