More than 100 suburbs may be part of a joint program to save money by buying air time for mobile phones and other items at a reduced bulk rate.
The Northwest Municipal Conference, a consortium of 35 north and northwest suburbs and five townships, is putting together the plan and will present it to the West Central Municipal Conference and the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association beginning next month, said Brian Nigbar, project manager for the northwest conference.
The Des Plaines-based consortium Wednesday approved a joint contract for buying mobile phone time.
The members, each of which has about 15 mobile phones for use by law enforcement and public works employees, will buy air time from a broker firm, Continental Mobile Telephone Co., which has purchased a large block of time from Ameritech and Cellular One.
The contract calls for a charge of $10.50 a month per phone and air time costs of 25 cents a minute during peak times and 12 cents a minute otherwise, Nigbar said. This compares to previous costs of $15 a month and air time rates of 27 cents and 12 cents a minute, respectively, he said.
The contract also establishes Continental as the single biller and contact for users of both Ameritech and Cellular One.
Nigbar said similar joint purchasing agreements will be attempted over the next two years.