Service would give first responders priority connection in disaster, city employees with work phones

Official word is still out regarding First Net phone service in Stanley, after the council moved to table the matter to a later date until it could hear more directly on the plan.

The service would provide first responders wa priority connection in disaster, as well as work phones to city employees. Tabling of the matter came in part after Ward One council member Mark Fitzsimmons expressed a desire to hear from the representative directly, after they failed to show Oct. 3.

“I’d like to hear more,” he said of the phone service matter. Other council members expressed similar feelings, the matter then tabled. So what can be known at this point in terms of First Net and the prospect of new city phones?

Laid out in preliminary council discussion at the Oct. 3 meeting, First Net would allow for EMS and first respond ers to have priority in emergencies as area phone lines filled up. The service provided through contract with AT & T would also allow for city employees to have their own work phones separate from personal, meaning that work and personal lives could be kept separate, rather than using the same line. A month-long paid trial period would allow the city to try the service out with- out being locked into contract. The fire department would get three iPads in the mix, with two for inspection and one for the chief with multiple uses. The police department would have duty phones as opposed to one for each officer.

The council is next scheduled to meet on Oct. 17.