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Custer County adopts cell phone policy, switches county service to T‑Mobile and adds archiving
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners approved Resolution 26‑17 to adopt a county cell phone and mobile device policy, switch service to T‑Mobile and add Smarsh archiving for texts, voicemail and email to improve CORA compliance and cybersecurity while modestly reducing ongoing costs.
The Custer County Board of Commissioners voted March 11 to adopt Resolution 26‑17, establishing a county cell phone and mobile device policy and a planned switch from FirstNet/AT&T to T‑Mobile.
The policy requires county business communications be conducted on county‑issued devices when a mobile phone is necessary, ends routine reimbursement for personal phones and authorizes IT to deploy device‑management and archiving tools. John, the county IT lead who presented the proposal, said the change will let the county retain texts, voicemails and email records and bring the county into compliance with the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA).
Commissioners pressed staff on privacy and cost. John said voice calls would not be routinely archived but that text messages and other digital records would be retained and subject to CORA requests. He described a software solution, Smarsh, that would add a per‑device archiving fee (about $5 per device) and a larger monthly device‑management saving tied to the T‑Mobile contract. According to the figures presented, the county currently reimburses roughly $750 per month for 10 personal‑phone reimbursements; moving to county devices and adding Smarsh would reduce recurring monthly communications costs to about $437.80 for service plus $255 for archiving, producing a small net annual savings (staff estimated about $686.40 annually) while centralizing records retention.
Supporters said improved device management will also let IT push security updates and endpoint protections to mobile devices and provide reliable communications in remote areas via the T‑Mobile arrangement. Commissioners raised the limits of digital privacy and the need to inform both employees and the public that certain texts and messages on county devices can be subject to public‑records requests; staff said written acknowledgements and training will accompany device issuance.
The board voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 26‑17. The IT office will return to the board next week with an amended T‑Mobile contract that includes the Smarsh archiving fee and a deployment timeline; devices were expected to arrive and begin deployment at the end of the month if the contract amendment is approved.
The adoption is the county’s immediate step to centralize communications, address record‑retention gaps and bolster mobile cybersecurity; the board said it will monitor costs and privacy questions as the program is implemented.
