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Police, fire and emergency responder radio signal repeaters were repaired after an apparent lightning strike damaged equipment and caused communication failures April 11-13. After Ancom Communications of Burnsville, Minn., repaired damaged Motorola equipment for an estimated $5,000, the company recommended buying a new antenna, lines and components.
Highway department communication equipment on the same tower was not damaged. However, the county board recommended checking the components to see if they appear stressed and compromised.
The radio tower is located on the high point between Maxville and Modena and serves northern Buffalo County.
The existing radio equipment was replaced in 2001 after it collapsed when a county highway department machine apparently dislodged one of the main guide lines while mowing.
But some county board members said it’s not yet clear if the county needs to spend money to buy new equipment this time. The tower and equipment is insured under the county’s policy, but the insurance plan carries a $10,000 deductible per occurrence, which some board members suspect might go up to $25,000 in 2009 due to the county’s poor risk rating based on a history of claims.
Questions have also been raised about the condition and quality of surge devices that were installed on the tower, as well as performance of grounding safeguards.
Buffalo County Board Chairman Del Twidt investigated the proposal, which came from the county’s law enforcement committee.
Twidt said he asked questions of equipment technicians that they couldn’t answer, including why some of the equipment on the tower failed and other equipment did not. “I’m not certain that we need to replace the equipment,” he told the county board.
Corey Lewis, a county board member from Mondovi who chairs the law enforcement committee, agreed that more research was needed before moving ahead with a new equipment proposal. “A little more discussion and more digging into information,” he advised.
The law enforcement committee plans to talk about the tower antenna issue again at a meeting on June 9 and asked board member John Schlesselman, who has experience in communication equipment, to attend the meeting.
