Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Kent supervisor wants to know who has the Nextel phones

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 04:11:48 -0500

Kent supervisor wants to know who has the Nextel phones

By: Eric Gross
02/26/2004

TOWN OF KENT - Kent Supervisor William Tulipane was flabbergasted when a
number of town employees assigned Nextel phones didn't know where they
were.

"Some of those issued municipal phones gave them to their children,"
charged the supervisor.

As a result of the phone snafu, Mr. Tulipane contacted Nextel last week
and canceled 18 contracts due for renewal on Monday. "I was outraged
when I learned of the abuse taking place. The telephone situation was
handled irresponsibly by the former administration. I inherited this can
of worms and I intend to fix it because Kent can no longer afford such
largesse," he said.

Mr. Tulipane hopes to save Kent taxpayers upwards of $1,800 a month by
retrieving the majority of the 36 cell phones given to certain town
employees.

When asked who were the phones assigned to, Mr. Tulipane said "police,
highway workers, some members of the Kent Town Board, park employees and
God knows who else."

Effective March 1, when half of the phone contracts are terminated, Mr.
Tulipane said, "they will become rocks."
The supervisor has no problem with members of the Kent Police Department
having phones. Last Thursday, when a tractor trailer rig went out of
control on Route 52 near Ludingtonville Road and mowed down several
utility poles knocking out electricity and phone service to a wide
section of Kent including the Kent Police Station, officers were able to
communicate with each other and the dispatcher via their Nextel phones.

"The police department's justification is more than ample," said Mr.
Tulipane.
Seven phones are being held for the lifeguards who patrol beaches on
Lake Carmel each summer. "Until I can come up with a system that will
supplant those phones such as radios that connect the lifeguards
directly with the police dispatcher and each other, the phones will
remain," said the supervisor.

Beyond the police department and the beach patrol, Mr. Tulipane said he
couldn't justify anyone having a town-owned cell phone including
himself. "I pay for my own cell phone and I expect everyone else to ease
into the 21st century whether they like it or not," he said.

Mr. Tulipane smiled and said: "Phones, phones, where are the phones?"
The freshman supervisor has an idea to make better use of the municipal
phones when employees turn them in starting next week.

"Each of the Nextel's will be converted into a 911 phone and will be
distributed to senior citizens and battered women. This is a much more
important way of using the phones since they will not go to waste. The
phone expense will be made better," he said.
Two of Kent's neighbors - Patterson and Southeast - own a minimum amount
of cell phones. Patterson Supervisor Michael Griffin said municipal
phones were carried only by the highway superintendent, code enforcement
officer, building inspector and himself.

Southeast Supervisor John Dunford reported only three phones were paid
for by the taxpayers.
Mr. Tulipane said the "days of wine and roses" in Kent were a thing of
the past.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11022254&BRD=1708&PAG=461&dept_id=72445&rfi=6

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