(Audubon) It’s back to square one for the Audubon County Board of Supervisors when it comes to upgrading their emergency communication tower.
In an effort to gain better coverage for the southern end of the county, EMA Director Tyler Thygesen was tasked with seeking out an alternate tower location somewhere along Highway 44. The potential site was put to the test by Motorola. Supervisor’s Chairman Doug Sorensen shares the results. “Instead of putting it by the Audubon water tower this would actually be West of Highway 44 on a hill top. To see what that would look like if it would give Exira, Kimballton, and Brayton a little better coverage. What it turned out was according to their computer simulation with topography it didn’t really help Exira, Kimballton, or Brayton, but it hurt Audubon a lot.”
Motorola originally proposed a two tower system which the Supervisors viewed the expense of as unfeasible. One tower located near the Audubon water tower will cost the county an estimated $2.6 million. “The next thing is how to fund it. They have some in-house or their own company funding otherwise we might bond for part of it with wind turbine revenues. It’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.6 million. It’s a lot of money, but we’ve come to the conclusion we cannot be without radio for public service especially in the result of a tornado or natural disaster. We are making it function for the minute, but if there was an emergency other counties can’t come in and assist us very well.”
In other news, Sorensen says they are starting to get a lot of inquiries about grant funding from the Valley Business Park proceeds. All questions are being directed to Audubon County Economic Development. The tentative timeline will have grant applications due sometime around August 1st. No money is expected to be disbursed before September 1st.
