Iola inched closer Monday to a revamped contract to provide countywide ambulance service. THE COUNCIL granted permission for New Wave Broadband to install an antenna on the city’s Elm Street water tower in order to provide fixed wireless Internet service to Iolans — but changes in such a practice may be coming down the pike. COUNCIL MEMBERS accepted the resignations of Brian Fees with the Iola Police Department and Mike Huesten, with the city’s fire and EMS departments. Hueston will continue to work for the city on a part-time basis.
Council members voted, 5-2, to have Mayor Joel Wicoff and City Attorney Robert Johnson continue negotiating with the county, with the understanding the county is offering to increase its contribution to $1 million annually from $750,000, with another $189,000 to help make up a projected $377,000 shortfall for the end of 2014.
Voting in favor were Donald Becker, Beverly Franklin, Bob Shaughnessy, Jon Wells and Sandy Zornes. Voting against were Nancy Ford and Steve French. Gene Myrick was absent.
The vote followed a 10-minute executive session for contract negotiations.
Wicoff noted the value of what the city receives for allowing the antenna — New Wave will provide free WiFi access at the Silas Bass Community Building — pales in comparison to the value the company will receive.
The city has similar contracts with Nautilus Commercial Data and KwiKom Communications, who also have antennae on city water towers to provide wireless Internet to the city.
“All of these companies are getting a wonderful deal using our towers,” Wicoff said. “We are giving away a huge chunk of change, quite frankly, by letting them use our towers.”
City Administrator Carl Slaugh noted New Wave owner Harry Lee Jr., already had been notified that the contract was going to be adopted without a monthly fee in place.
“This is poor timing since they’ve got a business plan and they’re already moving ahead,” Slaugh said. “This could put a kibosh on their plans.”
Council members agreed it was too soon to begin charging Internet service providers a monthly fee, even in 2015.
Wells suggested the city make plans to begin assessing a nominal monthly fee — perhaps $100 a month — for the tower access, starting in 2016.
Wells noted allowing unfettered tower access to the companies can be lucrative, “but I’d like to see all three stay in business.”
Wells said the city should set aside the revenues generated from leasing tower space into a separate fund.
“Even if we only collect $100 a month for all three, that goes a long way to repairing roofs or making buildings ADA compliant,” Wells said.
French said the contracts need a clause removing any liability to the city if the antenna had to be removed for maintenance or if the structural integrity of the towers were to ever be compromised.
“We’re not talking about fees today,” French said. “There’s too much to sort out.”
The Council directed Slaugh to examine the contracts for Kwi-Kom and Nautilus to ensure they can be amended in 2016.
Councilmen approved the hiring of Jeremy Troester for the police department, and promotions for Kevin Rush and Shelia Sigg, within the electrical distrubtion and city utilities office, respectively. The council also approved six-month or annual evaluations and subsequent pay raises for three other employees.
Iola moves ahead with EMS talks
