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KOSW board weighs structural study, lease options and backup-power gaps as tower work advances
Summary
Board members heard that a raptor nest removal cleared the way for tower work, Vertical Bridge proposed a structural study (about $2,500) and staff discussed negotiating lease terms while addressing limited emergency backup power and access problems that slow restoral after outages.
The KOSW board discussed moving forward with a new lease and equipment installation on a nearby broadcast tower while weighing the station’s ability to serve as a reliable local emergency broadcaster.
Marty Hatfield, who joined the meeting remotely as the technology lead, said the raptor nest at the top of the adjacent tower has deteriorated and is no longer a blocking constraint. “The raptor nest has deteriorated up at the top of the tower… and it’s starting to decay and fall apart,” Hatfield said, and added that Vertical Bridge — the tower representative — has proposed a next step: a structural analysis by one of its engineers for roughly $2,500 to verify the tower’s capacity before negotiating a formal lease or activation.
The board discussed options for timing and negotiation. Hatfield recommended the city take a lead role in negotiating contract terms with Vertical Bridge while also opening talks with American Tower about the organization’s existing lease terms. He said construction permits typically allow about three years to complete build-out, offering flexibility on a timetable. “Generally speaking, we would have 3 years to actually complete the construction,” Hatfield said.
Board members also focused on operational risks if the station moves sites. The board chair noted the station continues paying an existing lease that the transcript cites at about $33,400 a month, and asked whether the city could allow a slow transition or a sublease to offset costs. Hatfield said subleasing is unlikely and urged negotiating exit or adjustment terms with the incumbent lessor if possible.
A central concern was emergency-broadcasting reliability. Council member (name introduced in the meeting as Richard) and other board members said delays in getting the station back on the air after outages reduce its usefulness for local alerts. Hatfield described an on‑site backup generator and a backup transmitter but said both require physical access and manual steps to restore full service. He noted repeated operational barriers, including a lockbox system and an older emergency transmitter that recently failed; he said he had taken a higher-power backup transmitter to his home for testing and expected it would return to service as a secondary backup.
Board members pressed for practical mitigations: securing direct keys or better access procedures to the generator building; resubmitting or pursuing battery-backup measures that were discussed in a prior budget cycle; and placing the tower/backup-power topic back on future agendas for a tested restoration plan. One board member summarized the consensus: get a plan, test it and ensure the station can meet its emergency-broadcasting obligations.
The board did not approve any contract at the meeting. Hatfield said the station can defer the structural study and asked Vertical Bridge to ‘throttle’ the process until the board is ready to commit funds. Next steps recorded were to pursue city-led negotiations, clarify whether American Tower will alter existing lease terms, and return to the board with a recommended approach and cost estimates for any structural study or equipment work.
