LA wants to pay a nearly $1M to maintain to maintain ancient technology that no one even uses

Los Angeles has decided it’s the right call to spend nearly $1 million on nearly 250 pay phones throughout the county.The Los Angeles County Internal Services Department (ISD) submitted a request to the Board of Supervisors seeking approval for more than $953,000 for a contract to maintain services at 241 pay phones around the county.The contract with LittleJohn Communications Inc.would ensure the county continues to receive “pay phone services without disruption and provide a streamlined contracting process for departments to acquire such services.”The request noted the ISD is already managing a contract that provides services to these pay phones “for both county use and public use at various county facilities, including county parks, courts, sheriff facilities, and hospitals.”One of the requirements states that the communications company must allow for “payment by means of depositing coins” in the phones.In return, the county will receive “60 percent of the revenue for pay phones producing $100 or more of revenue each month,” according to the contractThe county will not get a share of the revenue for pay phones that generate $99.99 or less per month, but it did agree to pay $54.95 per phone for monthly maintenance.The nearly $1 million will go toward things like maintenance, repair and/or replacement of pay phone components, routine inspections, coin collection system, network connectivity troubleshooting, vandalism and more. The current county contract is set to expire on September 30, with just a few month-to-month extensions remaining. If approved, the new contract would take effect on October 1 initially stretch for five years, with several extension options up to a maximum of eight years and six months. The same communications company was awarded a county contract in 2019 to provide pay phone services for a period of five years with extensions for nearly $1.2 million, per county documents. It is unclear how long it will take for the bo...