CLEARFIELD – Yesterday, the Clearfield County Commissioners tabled action regarding the purchase of a communications tower location atop of West Market Street for the Clearfield 9-1-1 Center.
Upon input from their solicitor, the commissioners voted to table purchasing the communications tower location until investigating the matter further with the chief assessor.
During the meeting, the commissioners heard from Joe Bigar, director, and Jeremy Ruffner, deputy director, of Clearfield County Emergency Management Agency.
Clearfield 9-1-1, Bigar said, has a “never-ending quest” to provide superior services to its citizens. “Redundancy is the key,” said Bigar.
“…It’s important to have a back-up plan. You can never just have one avenue because if it goes haywire, you don’t have another route.”
Over recent years, he and Ruffner have explored possible locations for a second communications tower. Ruffner, Bigar said, accepted the task and discovered the proposed communications tower location atop of West Market Street.
Ruffner explained that geographically speaking and elevation-wise, the Clearfield 9-1-1 Center is situated in a “cereal bowl.” He said its tower isn’t used for broadcast and is only a linking point to other sites.
“It’s simply a link,” he said. “If that link between our 9-1-1 tower and our Rockton tower ever goes down, then we lose complete communications with everyone in the county, including those in the DuBois and Philipsburg areas.”
In exploring possible communications tower locations, Ruffner was approached by someone who lives just atop of West Market Street where there’s available land.
Upon his own investigation, Ruffner discovered an old Bell Telephone Company tower. The tower, he said, has been on-site since 1981 and probably hasn’t been powered since the mid-1990s.
According to Ruffner, their engineer has valued the tower at approximately $75,000. The tower, he said, sits on an acre of land and it’s important for the county to purchase the land, as well.
Bigar said upon the initial purchase, Clearfield 9-1-1 would have to build onto the tower. He said they have Wireless Funding available, which comes from the state for these types of projects.
Ruffner said he initiated negotiations with Verizon. Solicitor Kim Kesner, he said, was provided with the proposed agreement for the purchase of the communications tower location.
Kesner advised the communications tower location can be purchased but for no more than fair market value. Any proposed price exceeding $10,000, he said must be conferred with the chief assessor.
Commissioner John A. Sobel, chair, pointed out that the commissioners still have two meetings left in October. He suggested tabling the purchase of the communications tower location, which then passed, 2-0.