Chilton County approves jail tower lease with City Switch, renews Motorola maintenance and OKs herbicide spraying at tower sites

The Chilton County Commission voted unanimously to accept an agreement with City Switch to host a communications tower on county property at the jail and approved renewing a Motorola maintenance contract for existing radio equipment, and adopted a resolution allowing the road department to spray herbicide around new tower sites and be reimbursed from the county's communications fund.

The county administrator and E-911 staff described the City Switch agreement in the meeting. Trey Caden, who provided the update for E-911, said: "They're offering to pay us a $2,000 fee upfront. And then, once the tower is complete, a $1,000 monthly lease for that spot of land with the intent of us putting equipment on the tower eventually once we need it, free of charge." Caden said the proposed tower location is on county property near the impound lot and the old coroner's office, on the tree line behind the jail, and that it will be sited away from possible future courthouse expansion.

Caden told commissioners City Switch and its vendor (identified in the meeting as AT&T for the carrier ring at the very top of the structure) would build a tower of roughly 150–190 feet, and that county public-safety equipment would occupy space below the carrier ring. Commissioners voted to accept the tower contract after a motion and second, and the motion passed unanimously.

On the county radio system, Caden said two P20-5 towers are already erected and that technicians are finishing electrical work at one water-treatment-site tower and installing coax and equipment at Cedar Grove. Caden said the county hopes to begin testing both towers by August. He also said Motorola recommended delaying installation of new consoles now slated for the new courthouse to avoid installing equipment twice: "Motorola highly recommends us not putting all that new equipment in here just to turn around and move it out. It will not stop us from cutting over. We can start using the system as it is. We will just gain way more functionality once we're able to put the consoles in there." The commission approved renewal of the Motorola service agreement covering equipment not under warranty; Caden said the annual renewal covers current equipment not under warranty and that it is a state bid item (the renewal amount discussed in the meeting was reported around $42,000, reflecting a roughly 3% annual increase).

Caden said the project includes reprogramming radios owned by all county stakeholders at no cost to those agencies and that 9-1-1 staff will handle Kenwood radios despite earlier vendor programming limitations: "9-1-1 is gonna handle the Kenwoods...We'll handle that as well." Commissioners approved the Motorola maintenance contract unanimously.

Separately, the commission adopted a resolution authorizing the road department to spray herbicide annually around the P20-5 tower sites as needed, with reimbursement from the communications fund. The motion to approve that resolution passed unanimously.

No formal timeline was provided for tower construction in the agreement; Caden said that once the county signs the agreement the timeline will be clearer and that environmental/FAA reviews (NEPA/ASR) will be required before final construction. Commissioners asked staff to seek cost estimates for adding repeater capability and to coordinate budgeting if the county intends to add radio infrastructure in the next fiscal year.

The actions taken at the meeting change the county's operational posture for public-safety communications by securing site access for a carrier-hosted tower, preserving maintenance coverage for existing Motorola equipment, and establishing a funding source for site maintenance tasks such as herbicide spraying.