A long-awaited communications tower to improve law enforcement’s ability to talk to each other is getting closer to reality.
Allen County commissioners are moving ahead with plans to build a tower. If everything works in their favor, it could be ready as soon as the fall.
On Tuesday, they discussed funding options and heard a presentation from a tower-building company that submitted one of two bids for the project.
It’s been about four years since Sheriff Bryan Murphy asked commissioners to construct a 500-foot tower at the landfill, which is essentially the center of the county.
The tower is needed to solve the problem of “dead spots” where radio communication with first responders is difficult or non-existent.
Since then, commissioners have been trying to figure out how to pay for the estimated $1 million cost.
“Finding a million dollars has been the holdup,” Chairman Jerry Daniels said.
They’ve pursued multiple grants, spending time to do the research and submit applications. Time and again, those grants fell through.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county became focused on how to keep services running in the middle of a 100-year health crisis.
But in some ways, the pandemic also brought a potential solution to the tower problem.
Federal relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will bring $2.4 million to the county, with flexibility on how it can be spent.
Commissioners quickly realized they could pay for all or part of the tower project.
Sounds simple enough, right?
But if the county can get a grant to pay for part of it, after all, commissioners would have more ARPA money to spend on other projects.
Turns out, there is a grant that could potentially fund up to half of the project, Jonathon Goering, economic development director with Thrive Allen County, told commissioners.
