Ocean Shores ' The KOSW board on Tuesday discussed steps to relocate the station's transmitter to a Vertical Bridge tower and directed staff to pursue a structural study and further negotiations with tower owners, while raising concerns about emergency backup and fast restoration of service.

At the meeting, technology consultant Marty Hatfield said Vertical Bridge had identified a structural analysis fee of about $2,500 to confirm the tower's capacity for an FM antenna and related dishes and that the study would be billed through the city. "The next steps will be $2,500, I believe it is, for a structural analysis by 1 of their structural engineers that they use, to verify that the tower has capacity," Hatfield said.

Hatfield recommended negotiating contract terms with Vertical Bridge and simultaneously checking the city's existing lease with American Tower to preserve exit options. Board members noted the city currently pays the existing site's lease and raised the practical concern of overlapping obligations if the move proceeds well before the American Tower lease ends; one board member stated the current lease costs "$33,400 a month." Hatfield said the construction permit timing provides several years (typically a three-year construction window) and suggested a "two-pronged" negotiating strategy: secure flexible exit language with the current lessor while working toward favorable terms with Vertical Bridge.

Board members pressed on emergency resilience. Hatfield explained the station has on-site backup equipment but restoring full service often requires someone to go to the transmitter site and start equipment manually. "Somebody has to be able to get up there, get into the site, start the generator, throw a couple of breakers in the panel inside of our building, and then we can get the station back on the air up there," he said. Council members and staff discussed practical steps including obtaining a city key for faster access, adding an analog phone line from the city yard for outboard communications, and testing the station's backups.

The board also discussed technical approaches Hatfield is exploring to reduce response time, including a self-activating low-power backup transmitter at the studio that could begin broadcasting automatically if the hilltop transmitter goes down. Hatfield cautioned that automated switching can complicate operations when both transmitters briefly run simultaneously and emphasized the need for careful testing.

The board agreed to place backup-power and access improvements on a future agenda to develop a tested plan. Next steps noted at the meeting include: (1) authorizing or approving the structural-check cost through the city if the city chooses to proceed, (2) negotiating lease and exit terms with American Tower and Vertical Bridge, and (3) drafting operational steps to reduce human-response times during outages.

The meeting concluded with board members asking staff to return with more precise cost estimates and a timeline for the structural study and any negotiated lease changes.