County approves $650K in bids to build 4 new radio towers

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 November 2019 at 9:53 am

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has approved $656,757 in construction bids for four new radio towers.

The Legislature last week accepted a $557,707 bid from Upstate Tower Construction in Bethesda, Md., to erect the four radio towers.

The Legislature also approved a bid for $99,050 to the Orleans County Highway Department to do the site work for the four towers. The project was rebid and the proposal from the Highway Department helped reduce the cost.

Three of the towers will be 180 feet high and they will be located by the Public Safety Building on Route 31 in Albion, Millers Road in Yates near the water tank, and at the Kendall Central School near the bus garage.

The other tower will be 150 feet high and will be near the Holley water tank on Route 237.

The towers are part of a $6 million project to upgrade the emergency communication system in the county. The state awarded Orleans a $5,897,141 grant for four new towers, accompanying communication shelters, technology to connect separate radio systems and new radio channels. The project will strengthen communications between multiple jurisdictions and agencies.

Because the towers are under 200 feet in height, they won’t be lighted, said Dale Banker, the county’s emergency management director.

The new towers and equipment are part of an upgrade to the emergency communications system, which serves firefighters, law enforcement, highway employees, probation and some other municipal workers in the county.

The system currently has poor coverage in the Holley area, along Lake Ontario and some other isolated locations in the county, especially in buildings with thick walls.

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