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Newton County approves one-year AT&T contracts while staff solicits competitive pricing
Summary
To avoid service interruptions, the court approved two interim one-year contracts with AT&T and directed staff and consultant Shannon to compare pricing and hidden costs from Spectrum, Windstream and Highline for future procurement.
Newton County Commissioners voted Aug. 19, 2025, to approve two one-year AT&T contracts (IDs read in the meeting as MIS14160145 and MIS14176122) as an interim measure to prevent loss of internet services to county offices while staff pursues competitive pricing.
County staff explained the existing contracts had expired and the county was awaiting quotes from Spectrum and others. Shannon, a network consultant who joined the meeting, recommended the one-year extension to lock in pricing while the county obtains supplier comparisons. He warned of potential hidden costs associated with new fiber builds and said the AT&T paperwork in question appeared to be a 12-month extension to preserve current pricing rather than a long-term multi-year lock-in.
The court approved the interim contracts and tasked Shannon and county staff to obtain and compare pricing and to report back with any necessary cost and implementation implications, including any one-time fiber construction costs that could materially change the total price of switching providers.
Next steps: staff to collect comparative proposals from Spectrum, Windstream and Highline and return to the court with a recommendation for longer-term contracting strategy.
