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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Contact:
Brian
Ferris, Information Services Director, 360- 786-5420
Phone System
Renovation Planned For
Thurston
County
OLYMPIA
–
A replacement of
Thurston
County
’s outdated phone system will mean a temporary interruption of service this
weekend. Starting at 5 PM Friday
evening, there will be no phone service for most
Thurston
County
government offices while a new system is put in place.
Information Services Technical Manager Brian Ferris says the conversion
is planned to be complete in about 7 or 8 hours.
“We hope to get this project done by early on Saturday.
However, you never know when some sort of technical glitch will happen.
That’s why we planned to work on this over the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday weekend so we have some extra time if we need it.
Everything should certainly be working smoothly by the time county
offices open up again on Tuesday morning.”
Ferris says the current county phone system was
installed in 1984 and is overdue for replacement.
“This is pretty old telephone technology.
In fact, the current system is no longer supported and we have been
keeping it together with duct tape and baling wire.
The new system will bring us up to current standards and the public and
employees will both benefit.”
The $500,000 project is quite wide-ranging.
“We are replacing the entire courthouse telephone switch.” Says
Ferris. “In addition, more than
500 new phones will go on desks all across county facilities.”
The weekend change of the phone system will not have an
impact on jail or emergency services functions.
Temporary phone service will be set up for the Thurston County Jail and
for the Juvenile facility. Services
such as 9-1-1 Dispatch and Medic One are on different phone systems and are
not affected by the change.
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