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Commissioners discuss Windstream amendment to telecom services; procedural questions raised
Summary
Freestone County commissioners reviewed an amendment to a Windstream service agreement documenting recent digital voice and network upgrades and discussed recurring internet charges; no final roll‑call vote is recorded in the excerpt.
Freestone County commissioners reviewed an amendment to a Windstream service agreement that would document recently installed digital voice lines and network equipment and reconcile several piece‑by‑piece changes the county has already accepted.
Warren Martin Morris, introduced to the court as a Windstream representative, told commissioners the utility is replacing old POTS (plain‑old‑telephone‑service) lines with digital voice lines and must list Internet service and related equipment on the updated agreement so orders can be processed. Morris said the update is “more procedural in order to get these things … versus adding any charges,” and that Windstream intends to reconcile separate small orders back into a single contract after the county’s firewall and SD‑WAN work is completed.
County discussion centered on recurring costs. A commissioner noted that the contract shows a recurring monthly expense of about $1,016 for the fiber/internet circuit. Windstream representatives said that $1,016 is the internet circuit already being paid and that the amendment’s purpose is to ensure the digital voice lines and other services are represented in the contract; they also acknowledged that additional line‑specific charges would appear for the converted lines.
The court moved and seconded a motion to approve the amendment to the Windstream agreement, and the record shows that commissioners questioned the duration and the monthly charges. The excerpt does not include a roll‑call result for the amendment vote in the provided transcript segment.
Why it matters: the amendment affects county telecommunications and the operational rollout of digital voice services across county facilities. Commissioners emphasized the need to avoid duplicate charges and to reconcile existing, smaller orders into one contract after the technical upgrades are finished.
Next steps: Windstream planned to continue equipment installation and to complete firewall/SD‑WAN work on the scheduled date (referred to as the 21st in the discussion); staff and Windstream technicians planned phased phone activation to reduce downtime during cutover.
