Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Technology Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County IT director outlines $82K—$105K one-time options and new AI receptionist for phone replacement
Summary
Rockwall County IT Director Brian Crenshaw told commissioners the county's 2017 Mitel phone system is nearing end-of-life and recommended surveying departments before choosing between on-prem Mitel or cloud vendors (GoTo), with one-time costs estimated at $82,000—$105,000 and ongoing fees that include optional AI receptionist minutes.
Brian Crenshaw, the county IT director, told the court the county's Mitel phone system "was purchased in 2017 for $250,000" and will stop receiving security patches and new license purchases in 2026, with vendor support ending by 2029. He said the county currently pays about $14,000 a year in maintenance and roughly $36,000 in phone service, and that the technology committee narrowed vendor options to Mitel (on-premises) and GoTo (cloud).
Crenshaw summarized trade-offs: "With an on-prem system you're gonna have more control," he said, while cloud systems make remote work and scaling easier but shift the reliability and some costs to a vendor. He presented preliminary price ranges: Mitel roughly $166,000 one-time with lower ongoing costs, and GoTo estimated between $82,000 and $105,000 one-time with about $76,000 per year in recurring charges depending on handset/headset choices and the final user count.
Commissioners asked about device choices and lifetime costs. Crenshaw said department surveys would determine whether users want physical desk phones (about $75 per recommended phone) or headsets (roughly $127 when purchased through a vendor contract), and he proposed letting department heads specify device preferences before the court makes a procurement decision.
On services, Crenshaw described an optional "AI receptionist" service, sold on per-minute credits: an initial bundle of 3,000 minutes (credits) would cover roughly 50 hours and the vendor charges overage minutes if traffic grows. "The goal of the AI assistant is that we would be able to have every single elected official and department head set up their own AI assistant," Commissioner Stacy said in discussion; Crenshaw added the vendor would help train the assistant to route callers to the correct county office.
The court asked staff to produce a short table that (1) lists features lost or retained if the county keeps existing Mitel desktop phones, (2) details monthly and per-user recurring costs for cloud options, and (3) provides scaled pricing for AI-minute bundles. The county will survey departments about handset vs headset preferences and return the refined estimates on a regular court agenda for formal direction.
