County buys acre for radio tower

The county Tuesday signed the purchase of a single acre of land outside Lamont for a site that houses a radio tower in the county’s emergency communication network. Price of the acre was $10,000.

“It’s a done deal. The papers are signed,” said Steve Krigbaum, communications system manager for the county.

The site now holds a single, aging radio tower which the county is looking to beef up to make it usable in a new, county-wide emergency radio system.

Patricia Nelson, a woman from the west side of the state, owns the land which is about a half mile south of Lamont.

“I am happy we have secured permanently a site for the benefit of the emergency communication system,” said Commissioner Michael Largent.

This is the system used by 911 Whitcom dispatchers to communicate with police, fire and other emergency response systems around the county.

Krigbaum said that radio site outside Lamont had been used by multiple counties for several years, but there was no official paperwork outlining who owned it.

When the county went to update their radio system, Krigbaum said they needed to restore and update that tower.

Crews have been working for the past year to install radio towers around the county in a circuit that will, once finished, provide more stable emergency service than the current aging system.

Krigbaum is also working to buy a site for a radio tower on Tekoa Mountain, in conjunction with Spokane County, “cause bad guys and fires don’t stop at the county line,” he said.

While the whole radio system is still about 10 years out from full completion, the most major changes for the project, installing the towers, are being completed in the next two years.

The advantage of the radio system is that it sends signals through air, versus the old emergency system. That system, a series of hilltop repeaters and base stations connected with phone lines, is now being combined with the new microwave system.