article in Illinois State Journal Register
Tower dispute delays upgrades in Havana
By GAYE MAXSON
CORRESPONDENT
Published Thursday, October 06, 2005
HAVANA - A difference of opinion between Mason County's 911 board of
directors and the Havana City Council has delayed upgrades to the
communications system that could have been completed almost four months ago.
As a result, some areas of the county remain without dependable emergency
radio service.
On May 10, the county's 911 board chairman, Greg Griffin, applied for a
building permit to erect a tower for a microwave dish on county property
behind its jail in downtown Havana. The 911 dispatch center is there.
"(The Havana council) and a lot of citizens do not want that tower," Mayor
Dale Roberts said. "We would not compromise safety, yet we wanted to look
at the alternatives."
Roberts said the council asked Havana's engineering firm to evaluate the
system's needs and offer another choice - without affecting the integrity
of the system.
But Griffin said that when the alternative was presented, "it didn't meet
the task we were trying to do."
The current system works - most of the time.
"The problem is when it doesn't work," Griffin said, noting that storms can
knock out the system and dispatchers won't immediately know a repeater or
base station is down.
"You're waiting minutes while your house is burning," he said. "Storms
start on (the west) side of the county. If we go down, we can't let you
know. It's going to cause delay we want to get rid of."
Also, there are dead spots in the 911 system in rural Easton, the Sangamon
River and Salt Creek bottoms, and the far eastern edge of the county.
"The firemen around Easton - down in the bottoms - when they have a fire,
they can't hit the tower," said Easton Police Chief Bill Barnes. "Mason
City has a problem over there because of interference. I worked over there
about four years. Sometimes they have trouble getting out."
"Our mission is to create a more reliable radio system than we have now,"
Griffin said, explaining that the new plan utilizes two tall towers,
instead of five different repeater antennas scattered throughout the county.
He said his board's plan offers redundancy of systems for backup in case
one fails. The county already owns an old AT&T tower south of Teheran.
"If we can narrow our sites down to a couple of sites, it's easier to
maintain and more efficient," Griffin said, and the tower by the jail would
be large enough to adapt with upgrades as they become available or are
required by the government.
The proposed three-legged tower has no guy wires and is 180 feet tall. It
has a 16.5-foot base and is 4.5 feet wide with a light at the top.
"The city of Havana does not oppose such a tower," zoning officer John
Kachanuk said. "The problem is they do not want a 180-foot tower in their
downtown district.
"The council as a whole believes it would take away from what they are
trying to achieve. A lot of the building owners have improved their
properties with awnings and new paint jobs for a retro look. They're trying
to make the downtown something to be proud of. This tower would be one
block off downtown. At 180 feet, it would be the first thing you would see
when you come into downtown or from outside of Havana.
"No matter what, it's going to stick up there."
Gaye Maxson can be reached through the metro desk at 788-1519.
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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