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County staff ask owner to remove unauthorized weather station from communications tower
Summary
Staff told the Management Services Committee that a personal weather station installed without permission on a county communications tower could physically obstruct or interfere with emergency radio antennas and asked the owner to remove it; the committee referred the matter toward policy-and-procedure review and vendor/technical verification.
A staff member told the Iroquois County Management Services Committee July 20 that a personal weather station installed by “Mister Anderson” on the county communications tower had been placed without permission and should be removed.
The matter matters because county staff said the device sits horizontally in front of one of the county’s vertical emergency radio antennas and has “the potential to disrupt emergency communications,” including equipment used by the sheriff’s office and other public-safety partners. The staff member said the tower is about 60 feet tall and the device sits a few feet above the building roof, directly in front of a county antenna.
Committee members heard from several staff who said the device was installed without prior discussion. “He has installed his weather station on him. No permissions. No discussion with me,” the staff member said during public comment, and later added, “He shouldn’t put it up there first place without talking to me.”
Staff said the station is a weather unit intended for county use — measuring wind, humidity and related data — but they asked the owner to remove it because of the proximity to radio equipment. One staff member said they planned to contact Motorola to verify whether the installation could cause interference and asked that the owner relocate the device to another mounting point on or off the building.
A committee member said Paul had spoken with Scott and that Scott planned to take the device down; staff confirmed they expected the removal but did not provide a firm timeline during the meeting. No formal motion or vote was taken; committee members said the item could also be discussed at the committee that handles policy and procedure so rules about tower access and equipment placement can be clarified.
The committee did not adopt an immediate enforcement action at the meeting; staff said they would follow up with Motorola and with the policy-and-procedure committee to establish whether county permission is required and to document any required removal or relocation.
