Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Communications Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Communications director: three county-owned towers to boost coverage, reduce lease costs and create revenue
Summary
Mike Carter said Sagadahoc County will expand from five sites to 11 radio sites using ARPA funding for towers in West Bath, Georgetown and Phippsburg; the build aims to raise county emergency radio coverage from roughly 60% to 95—98% and could replace expensive tower leases while producing monthly carrier revenue.
Communications Director Mike Carter told the Budget Advisory Committee that a multi-site expansion of county-owned radio infrastructure will reduce dependence on leased tower sites, raise emergency-voice coverage across the county and create possible long-term revenue from carrier co-location.
Carter said the countys ARPA-funded project will ultimately increase the countys public-safety radio footprint from about 60% to roughly 95—98% of the county once three new county-owned towers are online in West Bath, Georgetown and Phippsburg and the system reaches planned capacity. He said West Bath is already constructed; Georgetown and Phippsburg are in permitting and the primary path to construction is steel ordering and site permitting.
Carter said the project will allow the county to retire two major tower leases (American Tower and U.S. Cellular) and that, once fully operational, carrier leases could generate revenue (Carter cited typical carrier rates in the mid-thousands per carrier per month). He also described near-term increases in the communications budget for temporary tower leases, site work and a planned multi-site radio-system build-out.
He noted the county will continue to pursue co-location discussions with FirstNet, AT&T and other carriers and said the longer-term benefit is better interoperability among emergency responders and more consistent dispatch-to-field communications across the county.
Ending: Carter asked the committee to view the one-time ARPA investment as a multi-year infrastructure program that should reduce recurring tower-lease costs and improve emergency communications countywide.
