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Lincoln County approves BTS phone-system upgrade for courthouse and sheriff's office
Summary
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on a December 2025 agenda approved phone-system upgrades from Business Telecommunications Systems for the courthouse and sheriff's office, including a one-time courthouse cost of $10,200, one-time sheriff's cost of $4,320, and recurring monthly fees.
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted in December 2025 to approve a countywide phone-system upgrade proposed by Business Telecommunications Systems (BTS) for the courthouse and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office.
The board authorized a one-time expenditure of $10,200 for the courthouse and $4,320 for the sheriff's office and approved the recurring monthly service costs: $2,375.50 for the courthouse and $817 for the sheriff's office. Commissioner Bruns moved to approve the contracts and Commissioner Weems seconded; the motion passed by roll call.
BTS representative Bruce Mendenhall told commissioners the county's current phone software had not been updated in four years and that bringing both systems current would require software upgrades and phone replacements. "You're looking at almost $7,000 just to do the software upgrades," Mendenhall said, and he estimated replacement of about 23 phones at roughly $460 apiece. He and Lincoln County IT lead David Pate said most labor would be performed by county IT staff.
David Pate said an advantage of the cloud-based system is remote administration: "The management of this new phone system ... we can actually log on to the phone system through our cell phones and make that change for them," he said, describing multifactor authentication and remote management features.
The system includes optional call-recording capabilities; commissioners discussed consent rules and disclosure notices. Mendenhall recommended a five-year contract to lock in pricing; the vendor and county agreed to try to minimize downtime and schedule installations around office operations. Mendenhall said an initial installation target for courthouse phones was Jan. 19, with sheriff's-office work projected in February.
The contract authorization directs the chair to sign the agreements and begins procurement and scheduling. Implementation steps include vendor programming with staff, staged phone rollouts for user training, and vendor-assisted on-site support during initial installation.
