EMA seeks county help to expand tower work after inspection and to add VHF/700 MHz capacity

Decatur County Emergency Management presented quotes to repair a tower light and asked commissioners for assistance to expand the work while crews are on the tower, citing recent state-site outages that left parts of the county isolated for radio communications.

EMA said a previously approved climb-and-repair job (quote 1) for a tower-light repair came in at $16,765 and was expected to be covered by 9‑1‑1 funds up to $20,000; staff noted the 9‑1‑1 funds had been authorized at a prior meeting but not yet appropriated. While crews are on the tower, EMA proposed adding a VHF antenna and cabling (quote 2) for an additional roughly $10,572 to enable a county-owned VHF repeater and provide local talk-around capability if state sites trunk or go down. A third option would add 700 MHz cabling to prepare for a county repeater on state-band radios; combined, all three quotes totaled about $40,290.

EMA staff described recurring interruptions at two state-funded sites that depend on older backhaul (copper) and said precipitation and recent flooding caused one state tower to go into trunking and render parts of the county effectively an island to dispatch. Commissioners and staff discussed funding sources, including local income-tax public-safety allocations and coordination with the city council and the state 9‑1‑1 administrator. Several commissioners said quote 1 should proceed immediately using the 9‑1‑1 cash on hand, and they asked staff to seek council approval for additional county funding to cover quote 2 (VHF) and quote 3 (700 MHz) so the additional hardware and cabling can be installed while climbers are mobilized.

No final appropriation was made at the meeting; commissioners agreed to work with the city council on the additional funding request and to move forward promptly on the tower-light repair using the previously approved 9‑1‑1 funds once appropriation steps are completed.