43
Tower components still needed
MINERAL RIDGE
Weatherfield trustees Tuesday authorized advertising for bids for any components still needed for a new 180-foot communication tower and related equipment.
The township received a $495,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010 to construct a new digital communication tower for police and fire communications, and buy digital radios and related equipment.
New digital radios have been purchased for police and fire departments, clerk Fred Bobovnyk said. Any purchases made by the township are reimbursed under the grant, he said.
The new tower will be located on the township administration building property, 1451 Prospect St.
The township has been buying under a state or federal bidding process, Bobovnyk said, but approval of local bidding will speed up the process. “We’re doing it as a precaution,” Bobovnyk said.
The township had been using the Armstrong cable company tower on Four Mile Run Road, the highest point in the township, but was notified by Armstrong late last year that there were problems with the tower, and the company plans to tear it down.
The township has removed the “repeater” from the tower, which relays messages to police and fire departments when the Niles 911 center gets a call for the township, and it is now at the township administration building.
Additional purchases still needed are: the tower, a building to house a large generator for the tower and the generator itself.
The tower is currently being bid through the state, but Bobovnyk said it is taking so long the township may have to take bids itself.
A site evaluation has been done and the next step is to pour concrete bases for the new tower and erect the tower.