Commissioners approve contracting directly with local 911 phone vendor after billing concerns with intermediary

Commissioners approved moving to a direct, year-to-year contract with the county’s 911 phone vendor after staff said an intermediary was charging the county more than the vendor billed that intermediary.

Staff reported that the county’s 911 vendor (referred to in the transcript as “West Veil,” with speakers also using variants such as “West Hill,” “Westel,” and “Westdale”) had split from the intermediary after a sale to a company called Resilient (also referred to as Resilience). Staff said the intermediary was billing the county for the vendor’s maintenance but was not passing the full amount on to the vendor. A county staff member said he verified that the intermediary’s bill exceeded the vendor’s charge.

Because West Veil (vendor) was described as working well for the county and because staff have an established working relationship with the vendor’s IT/accounting contacts, the board voted to contract directly with that vendor and to eliminate the intermediary from the billing arrangement. A commissioner said he was not interested in moving to Resilient’s phone plan and preferred to “leave the middle man out.” The motion passed after a second and a voice vote in favor.

Why it matters: contracting directly with the vendor is intended to simplify billing, prevent perceived overcharging by an intermediary and keep a system that staff say is user-friendly for county operations.

Next steps: staff will execute the year-to-year contract with the vendor identified in the meeting and adjust billing to pay the vendor directly.