Daggett County approves Union Wireless quote to bring fiber and VoIP to sheriff’s office

At a Daggett County Commission and RDA meeting, commissioners approved moving forward with a Union Wireless quote to bring fiber internet and voice-over-IP phone service to the Daggett County Sheriff’s Office.

Commissioners and county staff said the sheriff’s current service has long been “sub par,” often delivering only 1–5 Mbps; the proposed service would provide 200 Mbps upload and 200 Mbps download, and include a site-to-site connection between the sheriff’s office and the courthouse to maintain connectivity if one site loses service.

The county’s IT representative, identified in the meeting as Cordell, described the recommended option as the best available and said the project will also require a separate firewall license and a site-to-site TBM to preserve speeds if one building goes down. Cordell said the highlighted option is the recommendation but noted a survey or additional work to reach the building could produce separate quotes.

The sheriff commented that “anything is an improvement for me,” indicating acceptance of the proposed upgrade. Commissioners asked whether the proposed speeds would support additional uses, including whether the jail (if reopened) could operate on the new connection; Cordell said 200/200 Mbps is “quite a bit better than 100” and is likely sufficient, and that the county could upgrade the subscription later if needed.

On cost, the quoted recurring fee discussed in the meeting was $410 per month. Staff also flagged one-time or licensing expenses tied to the firewall; staff gave a rough estimate of about $2,000 for initial costs and mentioned a recurring license figure of about $800 per year as possibilities, but representatives said those figures were estimates and the exact license cost was “not specified” in the union quote. Commissioners discussed splitting recurring costs between emergency services and IT and said they would explore grant funding (participants referenced EMPG-style grants and other funding sources) to offset expenses.

A commissioner moved to approve the Internet service for the sheriff’s office as provided in the Union Wireless quote; another commissioner seconded the motion. The motion passed on a voice vote; commissioners responded “Aye,” but the meeting record did not state a roll-call tally.

The county directed staff to proceed with procurement, to account for potential additional costs if building access or site work is required, and to arrange the necessary firewall license and site-to-site configuration through IT. Staff indicated they will work with emergency services and IT to determine the final funding split and to pursue available grant funding to reduce county expense.

The decision authorizes staff to move forward with the vendor quote and to finalize related licensing and implementation expenses. No exact contract amount beyond the quoted monthly service and the estimated license costs was recorded in the meeting minutes provided.