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Board approves tower lease amendment and change order for county emergency communications upgrade
Summary
Supervisors approved a first amendment to a tower lease and accepted a change order that raises infrastructure costs for the county's new public-safety radio system; staff said the modifications keep project schedule intact and add redundancy.
Botetourt County supervisors authorized a lease amendment for equipment on the Purgatory Tower and accepted a design change order totaling approximately $595,000 for the county’s new public-safety radio system.
The board approved the first amendment to the existing tower lease after staff said Crown Castle (the current tower owner) and the county negotiated terms for new equipment space on the tower; the amendment carries a monthly equipment rate of $1,995, according to staff. The vote also affirmed change order 2 to the Motorola communications contract, which staff described as adding a tower shelter, generator, additional microwave links and repeater upgrades to provide n+1 redundancy at key sites.
Why it matters: The county is replacing its radio infrastructure and building a new 911 dispatch center. Staff said the design changes are needed because the tower location planned for the Reed Mountain dispatch site was shifted and because adding redundancy will protect dispatch continuity if fiber or a microwave path is disrupted.
Matt Enkel, the county’s emergency communications systems manager, told the board the change order adds roughly $595,000 in additional contract costs. He said the county expects savings elsewhere in construction by using third-party tower construction at two sites, which staff estimated could save between several hundred thousand dollars and up to roughly $1 million overall; those savings do not directly offset the change order line by line but were presented as project-level mitigation.
Board members pressed staff on what drove the additional costs and whether the schedule would slip. Enkel said tower relocation and the need for a shelter and generator drove the change order. He said the county will order equipment in early February and expects a late-summer 2026 cutover to the new system, with both old and new systems operating in parallel during transition.
Supervisors also approved a separate amendment to a Crown Castle tower lease (Purgatory Tower) for the new equipment site by voice vote. The board approved the change order by voice vote after a brief discussion. Staff said the project remains on a schedule that should allow dispatch migration next year and noted that future smaller change orders are possible to adjust radio counts as agencies add personnel.
Speakers quoted or referenced in this article: Matt Enkel, emergency communications systems manager; John LaRue, county administrator; Supervisor Clinton.
Ending: County staff said the upgrades add redundancy and protect dispatch services, while the board approved design revisions and the lease amendment to keep the radio system replacement moving forward.
