Floyd County continues search for public safety communications system tower site

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors at its meeting this week continued looking for a location to place a new 300-foot radio tower for a countywide public safety communications system, after the person whose property the county made an offer on last week came back with a much higher counteroffer.

The county is now looking at property in the Joney Laudner Family Nature Preserve, which Supervisor Mark Kuhn said is at an even higher elevation than the property it had made the offer on last week.

Questions involving the Laudner property include how much it would cost to build an access lane to the tower site, and how far away an existing fiber optic line is buried and what it would cost to extend fiber optic service to the site.

The new $4.5 million to $5 million communications system is aimed at solving reliability and connectivity problems that emergency responders including county deputies and community fire departments are having using their existing equipment. The new system would be part of the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System (ISICS) that state troopers and others use.

Part of the new system includes installing a radio tower near the western part of the county, to allow more reliable mobile and handheld communications in that area.

At last week’s meeting, the supervisors made an offer of $15,000 for 1½ acres of farmland, a parcel 100 feet by 300 ft., owned by Stephen Schlader next to the county’s Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve west of Rockford. The offer included sharing 15% for 30 years of any revenue the county makes from renting space on the tower to businesses or other organizations for additional antennas.

Schlader sent a letter to the supervisors making a counteroffer of $75,000 and 25% of the tower revenue for 30 years.

Schlader said he had researched other sales for utility uses in the area and had found another 1½ acre sale for a tower for $77,500, and another sale of about 2½ acres for $60,000 plus 50% of the revenue for 20 years. Another parcel 50 feet by 50 feet for a gas line service valve sold for $35,000.

He also said he had learned that potential revenue for the tower could range from about $5,000 to $18,000 per month, meaning at the high end the county would get its payment to him back within a year.

“During this process, I’ve been conflicted between the economic gain and civic duty,” Schlader wrote in his counteroffer. But when he learned of the potential income that could come from the tower, “That took this whole project out of the public domain and made it private for me,” he wrote.

“Why would I sell a small parcel of land for such a small amount of money in order to enable the county to manage what could be a very profitable enterprise? I hope they do make money, but I doubt that anyone in county government has ever been asked to make a $50,000+ donation to the county – which is essentially what they are asking of me by selling at their price.”

At Monday’s meeting, County Attorney Todd Prichard said Schlader’s letter “seems reasonable,” although there is a large range of fees for lease of antenna space on a tower. He proposed that the county research Schlader’s information then at a future meeting go into closed session to discuss making another offer to Schlader.

But Kuhn said there was another potential site available at the north end of the Laudner Nature Preserve – property already owned by the county.

A potential extra cost would be the necessity of building an access drive of 1,300 feet or longer, compared to the 150-foot access road required at the Schlader property. The board directed County Engineer Jacob Page to investigate potential costs for that.

Ben Chatfield, the Floyd fire chief, said the communications system also needs fiber optic service to the tower, and another question was how much it would cost to bring fiber service in from the nearest OmniTel line.

Chatfield said he would contact OmniTel to get that information and also work with Page regarding the requirements of an access road. He said he would also contact Schlader to verify the source of some of the information in his letter and let him know what was going on.

Motorola Solutions, the company designing the system and providing the radio equipment, and Pyramid Network Services, the company providing the tower, had identified an area at or around the county’s Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve as the best tower location to improve communications in that side of the county.

The board had initially considered placing the tower at the park, but that idea was dropped after an outpouring of sentiment against the idea by members of the public and the Floyd County Conservation staff.

Also at the meeting this week, the board:

• Approved allowing County Attorney Prichard to advertise to hire a full-time paralegal to replace a part-time employee with a law degree but who was still awaiting the results of her bar exam, and who had resigned.

• Accepted a low bid of $96,250 from Peterson Contractors Inc. to replace a 12-foot by 8-foot box culvert on 270th Street, and accepted a low bid of $139,850 from Minnowa Construction Inc. to replace a double culvert with two culverts of 12 feet by 8 feet each, on Kirkwood Avenue.

• Approved a resolution allowing the county engineer to place a weight restriction embargo on River Road from the intersection of 150th street to 130th Street, if he decides it is necessary. Engineer Page said with the mild winter the county roads are in good shape and it may not be necessary to embargo the road this year, but he wanted the resolution in place in case it is necessary.