County approves switch from LINGO to Matrix after repeated phone failures raised 9-1-1 concerns

County commissioners voted to approve a service-activation plan with Matrix Integration aimed at replacing LINGO as the county’s internet phone carrier after repeated outages and caller-ID problems affected nonemergency and emergency operations.

The issue drew sustained discussion at the meeting because of disruptions to 9-1-1 follow‑up and alarm monitoring. Stuart Wilson, director of 9-1-1 dispatch, told commissioners, “We have never had working caller ID since August,” and described missed-call callbacks landing at the courthouse receptionist instead of 9-1-1 staff. He said that once callers hang up, 9-1-1’s attempt to call back was routed to Sandy’s office, which confused residents and occasionally led to emergency responders being dispatched when follow-up failed.

The problem has affected alarm-monitoring callbacks, Wilson said, because monitoring centers use published nonemergency numbers when 9-1-1 lines are down. He warned that any failure to reach alarm-monitoring services could delay nonemergency responses and, in rare cases, affect medical pendant or other critical alerts.

County staff presented Matrix’s proposal. A Matrix representative described the company’s plan as moving the county’s SIP trunks and telephone service “over to our platform,” a change Matrix said would consolidate responsibility for voice service with Matrix and allow faster, coordinated troubleshooting. Bradley, a Matrix technical representative, and county staff discussed porting timelines and a one-time charge for porting direct inward dial (DID) numbers; Matrix said porting can take up to 30 days and that some outage time is unavoidable during the cutover.

Commissioners and staff weighed the financial and operational trade-offs. County staff noted substantial monthly savings from the LINGO migration from the prior wireline carrier, but also said the current LINGO service quality had suffered after upgrades. Matrix and county staff said they would prioritize critical numbers — for example, 9-1-1–adjacent lines and departments with immediate operational needs — during the porting process to limit short-term disruption.

The board asked staff to verify whether the county has any termination fees with LINGO; staff said they could not locate a written contract in the county files and would research any termination obligations before the cutover. Commissioners approved the Matrix service-activation form by voice vote; the motion passed with no recorded roll-call count.

Commissioners directed Matrix and county IT staff to pursue an expedited porting schedule, to prioritize numbers used by 9-1-1 and public‑safety partners, and to brief the commission and 9-1-1 staff if porting timelines change. Staff warned the longest single-factor delay would be the carrier-to-carrier porting process, which Matrix said may be outside local control.