Custer County approves AirSpring contract to upgrade courthouse and sheriff connectivity

The Custer County Board of Commissioners voted on Dec. 31 to approve a contract with a vendor described in the transcript as the “AirSpring proposal” to upgrade internet connectivity at the courthouse and the sheriff’s office.

A presenter identified in the meeting as Unidentified Speaker 11 described the proposal as a package that would move the county from a 250 megabits-per-second feed to a one-gigabit-per-second service and add enterprise Starlink backup at both buildings. The presenter said the new configuration would provide redundancy so that Starlink could take over if the fiber feed fails and estimated the county would save about $1,000 per month once implementation was complete.

“The total cost for this is going to be $1,314.22 per month,” the presenter said in the meeting transcript and added that the change "kinda seems like a no brainer." The board heard that the vendor would perform on-site review of current equipment before finalizing hardware details and that project implementation was expected to begin in early January.

An unidentified commissioner moved to approve the proposal and a second was recorded. The chair called the question and the motion carried by voice vote.

Why it matters: the upgrade is intended to speed up county operations, provide a backup connection for public safety and courthouse systems, and reduce the county’s monthly communications bill, according to the presentation. Implementation timing and exact hardware changes were described as contingent on on-site assessment.

What’s next: staff said they would begin implementation as soon as the contract is formalized and would provide a further timeline after the vendor’s site visits.