First Posted: 9/12/2013

FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Board of Commissioners on Thursday authorized Town Manager Linda Vause to enter into negotiations with AT&T to upgrade the town’s phone system with hopes that it would save the town some money and make communications easier.

Jeff Echols, an AT&T representative, presented the board with a proposal that he said would reduce the town’s cost on its phone lines about $800 a month. Vause said the town’s montly bill is now about $1,800.

“My goal is to get you a new phone system and cut that (cost) down to about $1,000,” Echols said. “It will have a better technology, do more and reduce your cost.”

Echols said the upgraded phone system would include features such as conference calls, music on hold and paging.

“Just about any feature you can imagine will be included in this phone system,” he said. “We will implement the software that comes with it … This is just replacing your current version with a newer version.”

According to Vause, the upgrade would ease her workload.

“We haven’t had a receptionist since 2002,” Vause said. “I do my best to answer the phone and listen to messages but it’s hard to catch up.”

Vause said the auto-receptionist feature that was presented in the proposal would make it easier for people to get in touch with various departments.

“It will smooth out communication between the public and the town,” she said. “It will make town personnel more accessible to them.”

In other action, the board:

— Recognized Town Clerk Jenny Larson, who has been with the town for the past 15 years, for winning the 2013 North Carolina Association of Municipal Clerks’ Clerk of the Year award, and Ashley Berdeau, an art teacher at Fairmont High School, as the 2013-2014 Public Schools of Robeson County Teacher of the Year.

— Authorized Chief Danny Parker to apply for a $34,934 grant through the Governor’s Highway Safety Program.

— Agreed to waive Fairmont’s Rural Fire Department’s monthly water fee of $46.71.