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St. Clair County moves to authorize hosted phone system; staff to place implementation motion on Tuesday agenda
Summary
County staff presented a hosted phone system proposal they say could lower annual telecom costs, integrate non‑emergency 911 admin lines and improve vendor support; commissioners directed staff to put an authorization motion on Tuesday’s agenda for formal action.
St. Clair County officials signaled support for replacing the county's aging telephone network with a hosted phone system after staff presented cost estimates and integration requirements at the June 4 work session.
An IT representative said the vendor quote shows a one‑time setup and implementation charge of $31,007.85 and an upfront integration cost of $12,901.87 to incorporate non‑emergency/administrative 911 lines into the new system. Staff reported a quoted monthly subtotal of $8,133.75 for the new service; by comparison they said current monthly expenditures amount to roughly $9,654.84.
"We wanted to make sure the system we recommend goes off the tip system so we didn't have to bid," the presenter said, adding the proposed solution integrates with existing recording and dispatch systems. The presenter also noted the county can phase work to ensure 911 continuity during cutover.
Commissioners asked about timetable and impact on dispatch. The presenter said implementation could be completed in days for a single deployment or spread over a few days for larger rollouts and that staff would schedule a kickoff meeting after approval.
Chair (commissioner) and several commissioners expressed support for moving ahead. "All we really need to do is choose to get some simple language motion to authorize the acting section to move forward with it," the chair said, directing staff to add a motion to the regular commission meeting agenda for a formal vote on Tuesday.
If approved by the commission, staff said they would finalize contractual language with the vendor and schedule the implementation steps to minimize service interruptions, particularly for 911 operations.
The commission is expected to consider a formal authorization at its next regular meeting; no final contract execution was reported at the work session.
