The County Commissioners and courthouse department heads held  a lengthy discussion concerning operation of the new telephone system during the Board of Commissioners meeting on May 4.

The discussion came about because of problems caused in the Treasurer’s office by as many as eight phones ringing at the same time. With a maximum staff of four on duty, that makes it difficult to handle customers at the counter while all the phones are ringing.

And it irritates the customers at the counter to be neglected while phones are being answered.

County Treasurer Diana Quicke said,”What I’m asking for is one call at a time on the Treasurer’s Dept. phone number.”

All of this came up for discussion at the Board of Commissioners meeting on May 4 as the commissioners and department heads discussed how to handle this  problem associated with the new phone system.

Chairman Rick Soper said, concerning the new phone system, “Is it a service or a burden?”

He asked, “What is the best way to handle the calls we can’t take care of now?”

It was agreed that a trial period would be run wherein one of the treasurer’s phones would ring and the rest flash blinking lights as more calls came in.

Adjustments will be made as needed, based on the trial period.

Soper said, “Once you learn the technology, life gets better.”

The commissioners approved an expense not to exceed $1,500 for a new laptop computer to replace an aging and failing computer that could no longer be repaired.

Deputy County Clerk Josie Morgan showed that Blue Cross/ Blue Shield rates for the county’s basic health insurance offering will increase about eight percent next year.

Soper said this represents an added cost of about $25,000 to the county with $5 million in property valuation needed to cover that cost.

An in-pipe survey of leaking drain lines in the court house will be completed by the end of the week.

Repairs are being made on the lift in the Annex Building. The lift is not in service until those repairs are completed.

The commissioners struck $8,902.20 in uncollected March ambulance accounts.

The commissioners met as Board of Equalization and heard Assessor Alice Ryschon report that the Tax Equalization Review Committee and the Property Assessment Division often had differing views on use of “outside” land sales to compute valuations of ag lands.

Ryschon said this made it difficult to predict what “comps” would be allowed at show cause hearings.

All acknowledged this is an unfortunate situation in need of resolution at the state level.

Next meetings of Boards of Equalization and Commissioners will be May 18 starting at 8:30 a.m.