FARMINGTON – County officials are mulling the acquisition of a taller tower off Mosher Hill Road in a bid to improve emergency service communications in Franklin County.
Franklin County Emergency Management Agency Director Tim Hardy and Communications Director Stan Wheeler attended the Franklin County Commissioners meeting for an ongoing discussion about the towers off Mosher Hill Road in Farmington. There are two towers on land leased from property owner Thomas Eastler: a 100-foot tower owned by the county that mounts antenna for the county fire and law enforcement channels and a 190-foot tower owned by Tri-County EMS. Franklin County’s communications study, which brought in Communication Consulting Service Inc. to analyze weaknesses in emergency service communication, recommended improvements to the Mosher Hill tower site.
Upon approaching Tri-County EMS about the possibility of co-locating antenna on their taller tower, Hardy said, the organization informed the county that they would be amenable to simply turning the tower over to the county. Franklin County would take over maintenance and lease payments associated with the tower, which would provide a new home for those two emergency service channels. In addition to Tri-County EMS, the taller tower provides a home for FCEMA’s channel.
A climber assessed the 190-foot tower last week, Hardy said, and found it in “great shape” aside from some basic maintenance items such as adjusting some bolts and guy-wires. Wheeler said that there were some technical elements to placing both of the county antenna on the tower, but that those were relatively minor. Additionally, some non-functional microwave dishes on the 190-foot tower would be removed.
In addition to the difference in the tower heights, the Tri-County EMS tower’s associated equipment shed is climate controlled, preventing cold and damp from impacting the radio gear. Franklin County’s shed is not.
The cost associated with the project would primarily be in leasing the area from Eastler. Currently, the county pays $1,900 a year for land associated with its 100-foot tower, while Tri-County pays $3,200 a year for its 190-foot tower. A long-term lease with Eastler would be necessary before the hand-off between Tri-County and Franklin County occurred, Hardy said.
In the advent that the hand-off does occur, both Hardy and Wheeler advocated leaving the 100-foot tower and its antenna in place as a back-up system. Perhaps more importantly, Wheeler said, maintaining control of the land, tower and associated shed would prevent other interests from installing equipment that might interfere with county communications. In any case, Hardy said, paying two leases that equated what Franklin County and Tri-County were presently paying would compare favorably to what counties paid at other sites, such as the Sugarloaf tower.
One issue will be funding a lease payment for the 190-foot tower this year, as money for such an expenditure was not included in the 2015-16 budget. Any lease agreement would likely need to take that fact into account, County Clerk Julie Magoon said.
Commissioners Gary McGrane of Jay and Clyde Barker of Strong said that Hardy, Wheeler and others associated with county communications could utilize the county’s attorney to negotiate a lease agreement with Eastler.
