Snowflake Finance Director Brian Richards asked the town council last week to enter into a contract with Payment Service Network rather than National Bank of Arizona in order to provide electronic services to residents, and accept credit cards and debit cards for payment. After some discussion the decision was tabled until the next council meeting.

“They (Payment Service Network) already have a hands-free interface with our accounting software and will directly integrate into it,” he explained.

Richards acknowledged that it looked like the costs would be close to the same, but stated that it was hard to know because information could not be compared in an apples to apples fashion.

Councilman Tom Poscharsky noted that the council had just received the information, but pointed out that NBA charges 20 cents per transaction and Payment Services Network charges 50 cents per transaction. He moved to table the item until they had time to study information received from both facilities that evening. Poscharsky said he felt that going electronic was great, but suggested costs be built into the fees.

After a brief discussion council unanimously approved tabling the item until the next meeting.

In other action Oct. 11, the council:

* Unanimously approved opening a checking account with National Bank of Arizona.

“They’ll give us a better rate on the money that we have in the bank and that will offset some of our charges, so we’d like to set up an account with National Bank,” said Richards.

The town has had an account with Wells Fargo for many years.

* Unanimously approved the purchase of a new server for the accounting information system and network.

The town has been leasing a Dell Poweredge 2950 Server for the past eight years and is in need of an upgrade. The lease is up, so they would need to purchase that machine, and Richards reported he researched the matter and rather than lease, they can purchase a Dell for $7,697.55, including tax and shipping, which would be a one-time cost.

Mayor Kelly Willis asked if this would be the best use of the money.

Dale Call pointed out that the old server will be used by the public works department and will be adequate for its needs.

* Unanimously approved the purchase of a copier on the state contract.

Richards explained that for the past five years they have had a Xerox copier on lease, and it costs the town approximately $1,000 a month in rental and color copy usage. The RICOH copier from IKON office solutions would cost $8,494 plus tax, and maintenance after that purchase would run approximately $200 a month.