Eaton County IT audit, AT&T line surge and broadband BEAD bids prompt quick fixes and outreach

The county’s technology director updated commissioners on three technology matters: an in-progress state-contracted IT audit, a late AT&T notice of sharply higher charges for legacy analog lines and a countywide broadband push tied to federal BEAD funding.

IT audit. Eric, the county’s technology services director, said the State of Michigan contracted Dew Point to perform a comprehensive IT audit for Eaton County. Eric described a 225-item checklist and praised the county IT staff’s documentation. "They said that this was one of the better audits that they went through," he said. The audit remains open; Eric said the county expects a final report in the second quarter of 2025 and will present highlights to the board.

AT&T billing spike and mitigations. The county received a late AT&T notice that rates for legacy analog lines could jump from roughly $33 per line to $1,879 per line. Eric said the county’s 21 affected lines would have led to a roughly $40,000 monthly bill if left unchanged. After meetings with AT&T and internal review, the technology team identified three lines no longer needed and is migrating others to cellular or IP-based phone solutions. Eric said the changes "will be a budget neutral solution" once migrations complete in the next 45 days.

Broadband and BEAD letters of support. Eric said 123.net, Comcast and Surf Internet submitted letters requesting county letters of support for federal BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) round-one applications. He said approximately 4,800 residential, business and government addresses in Eaton County qualify under BEAD (addresses that do not meet a roughly 25 Mbps download threshold). Each provider asked for a county letter of support and contact lists of local officials; Eric said supporting multiple providers may increase application scores because each may target different hexagonal service areas within the county. He confirmed BEAD requires "fiber to the home."

Aerial imagery flight. Eric also reported the multi-county aerial imagery flight (Clinton, Ingham and Eaton) has mobilized Kucera as the vendor; teams met this week and agreed field conditions were acceptable. The county is waiting for good flying weather; the vendor had mobilized aircraft and planned to begin a small subsection of flights.

Speakers

- Eric (Technology services director), Eaton County (government)

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{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"819.97","local_start":0,"local_end":270,"evidence_excerpt":"Good morning, everyone. I'll try to keep this brief this morning. Wanted to provide an update on our IT audit that we had through the State of Michigan. State of Michigan contracted through Dew Point. Dew Point provided a comprehensive, IT audit for Eaton County.","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"941.675","local_start":0,"local_end":300,"evidence_excerpt":"the County received notification from AT and T, late last month, regarding, a slight, increase in billing for analog lines... what we pay now for $33 a line is estimated to go to $1,879 per line... we found, about 3 lines out of that 21 that, we no longer need... modern solutions have been put in place and will be migrated in the next 45 days to take care of that.","reason_code":"topicfinish"}]}