1/31/12 Commissioners purchase land for new 9-1-1 tower site

  • By Nick Sabo
  • January 31, 2012
  • 353
                        
SUMMARY: New tower to improve reception, save county money A new communications tower serving 9-1-1 will go up in south-western Holmes County on land purchased by the county commissioners. Commissioners Monday Jan. 30 approved the purchase of 5 acres for $30,000 in Knox Township, the site of a future tower to serve emergency responders. It is hoped that the site will provide better coverage of the western part of the county, where reception on portable radios is sometimes touch and go. On the budget side of the issue, the agreement is aimed at getting the county off a $400 a month lease it is currently paying for tower space housing 9-1-1 equipment, Commissioner Rob Ault said. Electronics firm Futronics will construct the tower at their cost. The county’s 9-1-1 equipment will be installed free on the tower, and Futronics may lease out space on the tower once it is completed, Ault said. The five acres represents the minimum area where a tower can be built, Ault said. If Futronics fails to build a tower at the site, the contract requires them to buy the land from the county at the $30,000 purchase price. 9-1-1 currently has four tower sites serving police, fire and EMS. According to 9-1-1 Board Chairman and Millersburg Police Chief Tom Vaughn, the goal is to get 9-1-1 down to two sites. Studies conducted last year have shown the tower site in Knox Township should improve communications, Vaughn said. “if the previous studies are correct, and there’s no reason to think they are not, it will be much better,” Vaughn said. “If (officers) are away from their car on a portable radio, if they are in a house taking a report, they can hear dispatch but getting back to dispatch might be a problem.” The west half of the county is currently served by towers near Nashville and Glenmont. Vaughn said the Nashville tower will no longer be used, but repeater equipment at Glenmont may stay in place. Commissioner Ray Eyler noted the tower coverage has several “dead spots” where service was unavailable around Glenmont and the far south western part of the county. “This way, all emergency vehicles can be reached,” Eyler said. “There are some areas around where there was no service. It’s been that way for years.” The contract lists three individuals as the former landowners. Ault said potential tower sites to serve east Holmes are being evaluated and the county could see the second tower site developed this year. Holmes County 9-1-1 is funded by a charge that appears on cell phone user bills as well as funds generated over five years from the now expired 9-1-1 levy.


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