Minutes 02-11-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Recap Five (5) tower sites recommended for VIPER coverage 4 existing towers 1 new tower Two (2) tower sites recommended for VHF paging coverage One (1) new tower site One (1) existing tower site Cost Example Co-location cost example (GTE Wireless) $1,000 credit application fee $2,000 structural analysis $2,000 inspection fee (if construction installation fee is waived) $1,500 Closeout documentation fee Total set up - $6,500 one time cost $2,500 rental fee, per month with 5 year term Four (4) automatic renewal 5 year terms at 3% escalation Total rent $30,000 / yr. per tower site Orange County should negotiate these costs Outcome - BOCC comments / feedback - Tower funding in March, 2014 CIP - Radio Tower/Infrastructure Report approval by BOCC Jim Groves reviewed the maps and said a lot of the issues with coverage are due to terrain and the original design of the system. He referred to the map titled New “talk-in” – Portable Radio, and he noted the concentric circles, which mark the site of the Chatham tower site. He said this indicates a shadow effect, and it indicates bad coverage. He said there is discussion and study regarding moving the tower antennae down to a lower height to fix this issue. Chair Jacobs asked if there is a number assigned to the percentage of expected improvement in coverage associated with the recommended changes. Jim Groves said he does not have that information. Chair Jacobs asked that this be provided to Board of County Commissioners if it becomes available in the future. Commissioner McKee asked for clarification about the tower height for the VHF sites. Jim Groves said if you raise the tower height here the coverage will improve. Commissioner McKee asked if the Cedar Grove and Orange Grove towers would be appropriate for increasing height. Jim Groves said these two sites were set up at less than 200 feet. Chair Jacobs said, at the time that tower height regulations were set, there was concern about bird kills with taller towers. Commissioner Rich asked about the decreased antennae height referenced earlier. Jim Groves said the Chatham Mountain antenna is almost at 1,000 feet, and it will be moved down to about 600 feet. He said these two towers are 200 feet or less. Commissioner Rich asked if this height is sufficient. Jim Groves said it can work. He said if there could be a 400 foot tower site, it might bring the need down to 2 or 3 towers instead of 5.