911 staff urge replacement of county phone system after repeated outages, present vendor quote

Vigo County 911 and dispatch staff told the county Budget Committee that the county’s current phone system has suffered repeated outages since a recent equipment refresh and urged the council to authorize replacement with a Motorola Vesta solution.

The dispatch lead said the problem has produced dropped calls and audio issues “once or twice a week,” forcing staff to open frequent support tickets and, in some cases, reboot positions to restore service. “We can’t even afford to drop a call 1%,” the lead said, arguing that outages risk public safety and that vendor fixes so far have been temporary.

County staff presented a vendor quote for a Vesta package and said the project includes server and backup-center work; they described an initial milestone payment that could be covered from this year’s budget if commissioners and council commit to follow-up payments in 2027. Staff also reported a quoted five-year warranty and an ongoing annual maintenance/support cost cited in the meeting record at about $37,000 per year.

Committee members pressed whether the hardware and software purchase would work with existing equipment; staff answered that the Vesta package would replace both the software and the phones/servers and would require a multi‑month implementation. Staff emphasized the operational risk during the transition and urged starting the contract process so deployment could begin as soon as feasible.

If approved, the project would be paid from local income-tax (LIT/public-safety) funds or other county appropriations; staff said they will review available fund balances during the break and report back on which fund will carry the 2027 payment. The committee did not take an immediate vote; staff said they would seek the council’s approval in the regular appropriation process.

The committee asked county administration to confirm fund availability and to circulate a clear payment plan and contract language before final approval.