<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">DERIDDER — The Beauregard Parish Police Jury may have to pay over $9,000 for a new air conditioning control system at the parish jail if a backup for the existing system can’t be found.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Warden Jeanne Faciane told the panel’s building committee Tuesday that a problem with the air conditioning was first noticed a few months ago when temperatures in the building didn’t change as expected.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">According to Faciane, the thermostat is controlled through a central computer, but when personnel tried to access the thermostat they</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">found that an update to the computer caused the program’s files to be deleted.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“As of now, the only way to change the temperature is to have a tech come from Baton Rouge and plug in their own computer and change the temperature that way,” Faciane said. “That will be a $1,200 service charge. With winter approaching and temperatures flip-flopping the way they do at this time of year, it’s going to get expensive.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Thomas Adams with Star Service Inc. presented jurors with a quote of $9,096 for the installation of a new Web-based control system, which he said would be a reasonable upgrade for the jail.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The old system was very old and antiquated,” Adams said. “This system is nothing new or fancy. It will just be a more updated system than the one you were previously using.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Some members of the panel wondered if another computer update could cause similar issues with the new system, and Police Juror Mike Harper asked that a search be conducted first for the backup of the current system, and then a backup for the new installation.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Basically this is a $9,000 mistake because we didn’t have a backup disk,” he said. “I want to make sure that does not happen to us again.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The panel approved a motion to move forward with the new system if no current backup is located.</span>