HOULTON, Maine — The town will soon be making a technological leap with its telephones after the Houlton council approved spending $16,926 for a new phone system.
“This will replace a telephone system that was first installed in the 1980s,” Houlton Town Manager Butch Asselin said. “Right now, the system is failing. There is no voice mail at the police and recreation departments. This (upgrade) is something that is really needed for the town.”
Asselin said as part of the bid process, officials from OTT Communications visited the town and inspected the current system to assess what would be needed to make the upgrade. The council had budgeted $25,000 for the upgrade, so the project came in less than anticipated.
Councilor Jane Torres said the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce has a similar phone system with OTT Communications and she was very pleased with the service.
“Call recording at the police department is very important and this will allow us to do that better,” Asselin said. He added the town still needs to work out how emergency 9-1-1 calls would be recorded under the new phone system. The switch will save the town money in the long-term, but Asselin was not able to put a dollar figure on that cost savings.
In the event of a power outage, Asselin said there were “redundancies” in place to ensure that calls could be made and received. “We also have generators in the event that the power goes out,” Asselin said.
Phone numbers for the various town departments should not be impacted by the change. Officials anticipate it will take between four and six weeks to complete the upgrade. That work is slated to begin immediately, and should be completed by mid-October, Asselin said. There will be no down time during the transition as the current phone equipment will be left intact until the new system is ready to go live.
