Starke County IT Director Joe Short told the commissioners this week that he has met with a few radio tower authorities and showed them around the county’s radio towers, looking for input on how to go about building a new tower.
According to Short, they recommended building a 180-foot tower and a 20-foot antenna. The construction of the tower would require a request for sealed bids, but before the county can request bid proposals, Short says they must determine where the tower will be built.
County officials must now locate a suitable site while Short begins putting together the tower specifications. Unfortunately, the process of locating and deciding on a suitable spot for the tower will take at least six weeks, but Short says he’ll have the bid specs ready before then and he’ll just need to insert the location in order to allow bidders to submit their proposals.
Short also told the commissioners that the current radio communications system is not up to par, but he can replace the antennas on top of the current tower by the Sheriff’s Department for the time being. He says this would cost approximately $2200 per antenna, and two antennas would be replaced. The commissioners approved a motion to allow Short to purchase the new antennas to replace those atop the Sheriff’s Department’s tower, and to allow them to be moved later when a new tower is established.
