LCUB opts to upgrade software

Heather Beck -farragutpress.com

Thu, Jan, 31, 2013Lenoir City Utilities Board had a short agenda at its meeting Monday, Jan. 14, but authorized spending $35,000 for new gasoline pumps and $25,000 for new customer service software.

“Our current system is about 20 years old and has given us a lot of problems. They approved an allocation of $35,000 and we’re going to go out to bid to see what we can buy to replace our existing equipment,” LCUB general manager Shannon Littleton said.

LCUB maintains its own gasoline and diesel pumps used to fuel its equipment.

“Our software that accounts for the usage is ... just very archaic. It’s given us a lot of headache on running and not running, being able to get gas and not being able to get gas. It’s just a lot of headache,” Littleton said.

The electrical department already had budgeted $25,000 for the new gas pump dispensers; the extra $10,000 will come from other line items in the budget that are coming in under-budget. LCUB’s Board also approved a supplement service contract with Central Service Account-ing to provide new Orbit Business Portal software.

“That software really just helps our customer service representatives respond better to customers. It’s able to retrieve records and put more information about the customer’s account on the screen at a time, rather than customer service having to research and look for issues,” Littleton said.

“That’s the big benefit we’ll get,” he added.

The new software will cost $25,000 and was already budgeted for.

LCUB also voted to cancel its Feb. 18 regularly scheduled meeting in observance of President’s Day