JUNEAU - The city of Juneau wants to untangle its telephone system. To that end, the Juneau City Council decided Tuesday night to demand satisfaction from a previous technology provider before hiring another at additional cost. The council voted 5-0 to table a proposal to hire Inter-Quest, of Beaver Dam, to remedy problems in the city’s interconnected, government telephone and data system in favor of offering Professional Communication Systems of Menomonee Falls, a second chance. "My bottom line is: they haven’t delivered," Juneau Utility President Dan Wegener said regarding PCS’ work on the telephone system shared by Juneau’s city hall, utilities office, wastewater-treatment plant and public safety building. The city and utility hired PCS earlier this year to upgrade some telephone equipment and achieve connections between buildings via newly installed, fiber-optic lines at a cost of about $23,000 to the city and $9,000 to the utilities. Complaints with that system arose after PCS completed work a few weeks ago and there was a proposal to hire Inter-Quest to resolve them at an additional cost of $15,535. Rather than act on that resolution, the council, upon advice of Juneau City Attorney Joe Sciascia, tabled it and decided to give PCS 30 daysto put the system in working order at no additional cost. "I suggest you make a clear, written demand of them to bring this system into compliance by a certain date," Sciascia said. Second ward alderman Robert "Mac" Affeld contended PCS should be compelled, to honor its agreement. "Should it not be done, we would hire Inter-Quest to finish the job correctly and charges would be assessed PCS," he said. Originally, Juneau’s utility office and city hall were connected by fiber-optic line, but according to Juneau Clerk/Treasurer Dennis Sheldon, that was only part of the overall plan. "They needed to extend the fiber-optic line to the wastewater-treatment plant and it seemed like an opportunity to connect other city buildings in that direction," he said. "Once connected, it seemed to make sense that we’d use it for voice and data. At the same time, we saw a need for a new phone system at city hall. "The fiber issue came into play at that point and connecting the whole city through that network was to bring a savings, but that has not happened; plus, we’ve had performance problems," Sheldon said. In other action, the council authorized Sheldon to seek an application to borrow $150,000 from the state trust fund. The money, if acquired, would be used for various capital improvements outlined in the city’s 2010 budget, including surface improvements to South Hyland Street. Sheldon reminded the council a public hearing on the $8.6 million budget is slated for Nov. 23, after which a special council meeting will be convened.