The Adams County sheriff reported prolonged problems with the county's telephone system, saying administrative lines have been failing for about 10 days and roughly half of administrative calls are not getting through. The sheriff emphasized that 911 emergency lines have remained functional but said dropped calls on other lines had prevented dispatch of medical assistance in at least some instances, calling the situation an emergency.

Commissioners and staff discussed short-term and longer-term fixes. County staff explained plans to shift to cloud-based SIP trunks and to pursue a different provider and method for routing incoming calls. The board directed staff to treat the phone outage as an emergency procurement to restore reliable communications as quickly as possible. The sheriff said he was seeking alternative routing and possible dedicated emergency circuits, including satellite as a contingency for an independent route.

Separately, the sheriff provided an update on a proposed shooting range site south of the jail. He said state reviewers (BCA) would inspect the property and a site visit and meeting were scheduled for Dec. 16; he asked for the board's support for the range to meet training requirements and liability controls. The meeting concluded with staff and the sheriff agreeing to continue coordination with reviewers and to return to the board with any decisions from the review.