VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish Police Jury discussed Monday the prospect of a new phone and Internet system that could save the parish approximately $350 monthly while still implementing upgrades.

Police Jury Secretary Treasurer Sandi Burley said at Monday’s regular meeting the parish currently pays approximately $1,500 a month for phone and Internet.

But Burley said local business Computer Consultants was researching a deal with AT&T, which could install a new phone system that would bring that monthly cost down to approximately $1,150. Further, that plan would also involve an upgrade from a copper-wire phone system to a superior fiber-optic system.

“Initially to run the fiber optics, they were talking about it costing $7,000 just to get it to the building,” Burley said. “They waived that, kind of like when you buy a cell phone package, they waive the cost of the phone if you sign a two-year agreement kind of thing. They’re waiving that $7,000 to get us on fiber optics, which I thought was great.”

Police Jury President Jimmy Wilkinson said the objective would be to get as many parish departments on board with the plan so as to try bring costs down even further from the $1,150 estimate.

Burley said those figures came from discussions with Jay Gamberi of Computer consultants and were not hard numbers, so the jury could not make a decision Monday night.

Stressing the need to move with urgency, however, Burley said she was working diligently on the matter and that the board would need to act quickly once her calculations are more exact.