Adams County commissioners on Tuesday authorized an emergency, single-source purchase to replace the county phone system with a cloud-based solution from All Star Communications (through an intermediary), saying the change is needed to address dropped calls and failures that have affected emergency 911 call handling.

Legal counsel told the board the county can use special‑purchase procedures in Indiana Code (5‑22‑10‑4, 5‑22‑10‑7 and 5‑22‑10‑8) when emergency conditions or compatibility concerns make one vendor the only reasonable option. The counsel said commissioners had heard evidence that “we’ve got dropped calls. We’ve got calls going into our 911 center … that aren’t being received,” and recommended the special purchase as appropriate to remedy “emergent communication deficiencies.”

County IT staff and the vendor presented a three‑part proposal: one‑time setup/installation fees and a monthly licensing charge that includes phones, hardware and ongoing service; optional unified‑communications features were offered (Teams integration, voicemail‑to‑email and archiving). Staff provided line items in the proposal during the meeting, including a monthly base fee cited as $4,872.84 and one‑time setup/install fee amounts discussed on the record. The vendor also proposed per‑user licenses for Teams integration and optional multiyear archiving.

“I felt really comfortable with the vendor,” said a county official who led the presentation, citing the company’s experience with similar cloud transitions and the county’s need to move off local SIP trunk terminations into a colocated/cloud environment with digital backups. The presenter said the move would also allow the county to separate billing for non‑county users currently on the system.

The board voted to approve the special‑purchase method and then approved a motion authorizing IT Director Mike Brown to sign the final service agreements after the Adams County attorney reviews and approves contract changes. Commissioners asked staff to modify standard contract language to limit long‑term termination obligations before the agreement is executed.

Officials estimated the technical transition could take weeks to months because of number porting and equipment deployment, but staff said cloud provisioning could start promptly once work is authorized. The board’s action aims to preserve emergency communications reliability while ensuring contract terms are reviewed by legal counsel.

What happens next: staff will finalize contract edits with the county attorney, notify the vendor to begin cloud provisioning, and return signed agreements as authorized. The county will track any additional license or archiving costs department by department and present added expenses to the board if they exceed the approved baseline.