County calls for cell phone crackdown

Burke County's county government is kicking its cell-phone addiction.
It's not quite going cold turkey, but many of the devices on Jan. 1 will go dark.
Intervention started months ago with the board of commissioners.
"They all, collectively, during the budget process, were looking at ways to save money. They wanted us to find ways to tighten the belt and reduce spending without reducing services," explained Aaron Church, assistant to the county manager.
He drew the assignment of finding out how many cell phones and personal digital assistants, such as Blackberries, were in use in county offices.
Among the 500 county employees, nearly one in four had a county-paid cell phone or PDA. Seven months ago, when Church began his study, the sheriff's office had the most (approximately 45), followed by DSS with 37 and EMS with 21. The annual bill approached $70,000 — and it was rising.
Church also discovered there were no internal controls, inventory systems and/or tracking systems to monitor the county government's cell phone inventory or usage.
After three or four months' work, he presented a new policy the county commissioners unanimously approved this month.
As of Jan. 1, the county will provide cell phones to only three departments: Emergency Management Services, the sheriff's office and the Department of Social Services.
"Those will be mainly issued to people who are supervisors or in very dangerous situations," Church said. In addition, as required by state law, each ambulance will have an assigned cell phone. Others will go to a few supervisors (and not, incidentally, Church, County Manager Ron Lewis or finance office Paul Ijames, none of whom has a county-paid cell phone now).
The Department of Social Services will have some cell phones that social workers can check out on a daily basis.
EMS will have one cell phone that supervisors can use on their shift. The fire marshal's office also will have cell phones.
Other requests from county departments will be considered in the future. Department heads will have to justify each added expense.
"Basically, it's zero-based budgeting," Church said.
The county manager's office has told departments and supervisors that all other cell phones will be cut off on Jan. 1. Church said that affects 55 devices immediately, but it's possible the eventual total will be 65 to 75.
Some county employees who use their personal cell phones for county business may be eligible for a stipend of $25 or $40 per month. The commissioners agreed to let department heads begin considering those requests immediately, so there will be a smooth transition on Jan. 1.
The lower stipend is for people who primarily work at a desk in an office, but occasionally go into the field on county business. The $40 stipend is for those who spend much of their time away from the office and land-line service.
"They'll have to justify their use of the phone, too," Church said. Department heads will make the determination of who gets what. Employees also will have to reapply annually for the stipends.
Church estimates the county will save $5,000 in the first year — the county's budget year goes until June 30; also, the county will pay to have some contracts terminated early — and "we hope to save anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000 in future years. That's a lot of money."
County department heads will have a choice of cell phone service providers: Nextel and Verizon. The state has contracts with both. Burke County's finance office will monitor the expense on a monthly basis.
"We're going to depend on the departments to make those decisions, because they will not be paid after Jan. 1," Church said.