Politics & Government

Selectmen Agree to End DPW Software Woes with Replacement

Selectmen, meeting Monday, decided to spend a bit on replacing various small parts of the town's infrastructure, including Noroton Heights train station steps, some Department of Public Works software and a sewer monitoring system.

When he asked for $45,000 to fix or replace the curbs, steps and sidewalks, town Public Works Director Robert Steeger simply told the board they had deteriorated. The Board of Selectmen approved the request.

When he asked for $60,000 to replace an electronic sewer monitoring system, Steeger said the system now in use is obsolete, and a new one would be more efficient. The board assented to that request, as well.

But when Steeger asked for $9,000—also approved by selectmen—to replace a software system used for keeping track of the dump sticker accounts, it got personal.

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"Through personal experience over the last six months, I have concluded that the system is obsolete and should be replaced as soon as possible," Steeger wrote in a memorandum dated Oct. 19. The memo sounded like "Running it [the current software] is time-consuming, tedious and frustrating."

The software program, 10 years old "and never updated," Steeger said. The system, sold to the town by PC Scale but partly run by a subcontractor called Cougar Mountain, has been tinkered with by both companies, but with "Band-Aids and other expedients," he said.

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Some of the changes to the software appear not to have been well-documented, he said.

"I personally spend in excess of three days each month generating customer invoices and statements," he wrote. "Part of that time is spent on the phone, first with PC Scale support and then with their counterparts at Cougar Mountain, at a cost of $400 per month, every month."

The software is now so old that it's gotten to the point that even the technicians at the two software companies don't know much more about the system than do the Darien DPW employees who need to call the support staff with problems, Steeger told the board.

Steeger suggested that the town buy a new accounts receivable software package for $9,000. That cost includes the first year of $1,595 in annual fees for assistance from support staff.

The board directed that the money should be transferred from the DPW solid waste disposal account into the professional services account to pay for the software. The Board of Finance will also need to approve the transfer.

Train station repairs and replacements

The Noroton Heights station needs repairs at various spots, according to Steeger.

The sidewalk and curbing near the building and near handicapped-parking spaces "have deteriorated and are in need of repair," he wrote in a memorandum to the Boards of Selectmen and Finance. The work is part of the station's long-range improvement plan, he added.

"The repair and replacement will include new concrete steps adjacent to the building and platform, concrete curbing, conrete sidewalk and incidental asphalt paving," he wrote.

Asked when the work could be completed in December if the weather is warm enough, or if not, then this spring. Steeger said after the meeting that he wasn't sure whether or not the work would have to go out to bid.

Steeger's memo to the two boards asking for the train station money is dated Oct. 21.

Sewer monitoring system

The new septic sewer monitoring system would replace a 12-year-old electronic monitoring system that is "technologically obsolete," Steeger wrote to the Board of Selectmen in a Nov. 3 memo.

The new system "provides real-tome notice of system breakdowns that could cause significant polution or property damage if not attended to on a timely basis," he said.

With the new system, town DPW employees living in Bridgeport and Milford can see from their home computers how the town's 14 pump stations are working. That could mean the town can react faster if a problem should occur, he said.

Steeger said the town should be able to save $8,000 a year in operating costs with the new, $60,000 system.


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