E911 board approves $268,500 payment to Lumen for Vesta 911 phone system; text‑to‑911 still not live

The Montezuma County E911 Board voted to authorize an installment payment of $268,500 to Lumen (CenturyLink) for the Vesta 911 phone system for site A, while acknowledging technical issues remain for full system functionality and that a second site remains unsigned.

Miss Johnson, an E911 representative, told the board the system has been in use since roughly Dec. 16 last year and to her knowledge the county has not missed any calls. She said two outstanding technical issues remain: text‑to‑911 has not gone live because an Intrado engineer who was required to complete the cutover resigned and must be replaced; and there are intermittent problems with outbound dialing integration between the Vesta system and the city's Avaya phones that sometimes require retrying calls.

"The text to 911 isn't working yet," Miss Johnson said. She said Intrado must assign a replacement engineer and estimated text‑to‑911 could go live in January once the company completes staffing and testing. She said site B remains incomplete and that a separate outstanding payment of about $157,500 will be due when site B reaches sign‑off.

Commissioners moved and seconded the payment for site A to Lumen (CenturyLink). The motion passed on a voice vote (three "Aye" responses recorded). County staff said they will sign the payment documentation and look for the invoice; several commissioners stated they would withhold final payments pending resolution of outstanding technical issues.

Why it matters: the Vesta system is the county’s primary 911 phone platform; text‑to‑911 functionality and reliable integration with the county’s Avaya telephony are material to emergency communications.