Daniels County approves triband antenna work, authorizes Red Tail to finish Tower Hill and Flaxville installs

Daniels County commissioners on April 2 voted to authorize work and funding to replace and upgrade base-station antennas and related console equipment, enabling Red Tail Communications to finish installation at Flaxville and the Tower Hill main power site.

Red Tail representatives said the Flaxville site was recently moved off an old water tower to a Border Patrol building and that an inspection found lightning damage to an existing antenna. Jared, a Red Tail representative, told the board the company could supply replacement triband antennas and fold the console and antenna work into an upcoming trip to save on lift and travel costs. "Between those two quotes, we... don't need to ask for any more funding for either one of those projects," Jared said during the meeting.

A commissioner moved to cover 345950 for the triband antenna (amount as stated in the meeting); the motion was seconded and voice votes were recorded in favor. Meeting audio logged multiple "aye" responses; the commissioners treated the motion as approved and Red Tail said their crews would be onsite the following week to replace the temporary Flaxville antenna and install the GTR base radio at Tower Hill.

The discussion also covered ongoing problems with older subscriber radios (XTL/XTL 5000 models) that previously affiliated with the trunking system but no longer do. Red Tail described a troubleshooting plan that includes trying a functioning code plug from a neighboring county's radio to reprogram local units and then rebuilding configurations if needed. Red Tail warned that some radios may simply be beyond their expected service life and might require replacement.

Staff and Red Tail clarified several site-ownership points: Roger Smith (Interoperability Montana project, referenced in the meeting) confirmed the Radio Hill tower, generator and propane tank are county property while the Border Patrol owns certain buildings and a guyed tower. Red Tail said it would provide photos and documentation of equipment installed on the contested tower to aid county discussions with Border Patrol.

The county directed staff to accept the Red Tail work as planned, coordinate lift and scheduling with the siren project to capture cost savings, and follow up with documented equipment inventories and email coordination. The immediate next steps are Red Tail's scheduled site visits the following week and completion of antenna replacement, GTR installation, console antenna wiring and testing.

Notes on numbers and phrasing: the motion cited the figure 345950 during the meeting; the audio did not include a currency symbol or formatting, so the amount is recorded here as stated by meeting participants.