County board discusses request to help site 200-foot emergency radio tower

County Board Member Mister Tassoni raised a request from a local committee and the Rockford Area Radio Association for assistance identifying a location or other support to install a 200-foot freestanding tower to improve emergency radio communications.

"He's very passionate about his cause. And in short, what ... the organization is looking for is some assistance, whether it be county, whether it be some municipality, whether it be anyone, that can help with the location or a recommendation to help them get this 200 foot freestanding tower up to provide more emergency communications via the airways and through the radios," Tassoni said.

Tassoni said he had been working with Mister Trent Grass on the issue and asked that conversations continue with Mister Garcia, who is in the audience. Several board members expressed interest and support for continuing the discussion. Mister Neighbors asked whether the request included provision of land, and Tassoni and others said multiple options could be considered and that Garcia would provide more detail.

Mister Garcia responded, "That is correct, sir. And we'll have a a long discussion. I'm kinda familiar with what they're asking for, so I'd like to sit down to to gather more data ... so that we can get an appropriate response to the entire company," indicating staff would gather information before returning to the board.

No formal motion, vote, funding commitment, or site approval was recorded in the transcript. The action recorded was a request for staff follow-up and continued conversation with stakeholders.

Ending: The board asked staff to continue discussions and to report back with more information; no timetable for follow-up was specified in the provided transcript.