LaSalle County leases newly purchased radio tower to ETSB for 911 communications; board tables final lease to October for additional details

LaSalle County purchased a communications tower and during its Sept. 1 meeting considered a lease agreement to place the facility under the operational and financial responsibility of the LaSalle County Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB). Presenters said ETSB would reimburse the county and assume ongoing expenses through the lease. The action matters because the tower supports 9-1-1 radio communications across parts of the county; ETSB representatives told the board the site is already live and has improved coverage in remote locations. County presenters described the site as a preexisting tower and building roughly under the Serena Fire Department area. An ETSB representative said the county paid $45,000 to acquire the tower parcel and site improvements; ETSB plans to reimburse that amount through the lease. The ETSB representative said the site sits on about 8.5 acres and that the county’s purchase included the tower, a utility building housing a diesel generator, HVAC and radio equipment, and buried cables. “The deed is in the county’s name. ETSB cannot own property. So that’s why there is a leaseback period back to them,” the ETSB representative said. During discussion, board members raised several contract points: the initial lease term and auto-renewal language, blank fields in the draft lease (including renewal dates and construction-completion dates), insurance coverage and whether the county highway department should verify buried cable locations. County staff confirmed ETSB had reimbursed costs for adding the tower to the county insurance policy and that ETSB would pay the added premium. ETSB staff said the tower went live a few weeks earlier, that climbers had removed obsolete microwave dishes and that deputies reported “80 to 90% better coverage” in three quarters of tested locations. Several board members requested a finished copy of the lease with dates filled in; others asked that the renewal language not be automatic for decades without a return to the board. Because members wanted the completed lease language and additional clarifications, the board tabled the lease agreement until the next full board meeting; ETSB officials said a one-month delay would not harm operations and that the board could take the item up at its next meeting. No vote to execute the lease occurred at the Sept. 1 meeting; the county clerk recorded a motion to waive reading of the full agreement and the board then tabled the item for additional review.