Tekoa weather delays push back e-comm network

The last link in an overhaul of Whitman County’s emergency communications network will likely be complete next spring instead of the anticipated completion date this fall.

Fran Martin, director of the county’s emergency management department, said Tuesday morning that crews building a tower on Tekoa Mountain have encountered weather delays.

Under a joint operating agreement, Spokane County is building the tower, while Whitman County will maintain it once it is erected.

Martin said the foundation for the tower is complete and the equipment shelter was slated to be finished Tuesday. Radio equipment is being stored on site for deployment once the tower is built.

With wet fall and winter weather striking the mountain, though, Martin said construction crews will have difficulty using the road to the top of the mountain.

Deputies, firefighters and emergency responders from both Whitman and Spokane counties will use the tower.

With towers near Colton, Endicott, Lamont and Naff Ridge, the Tekoa tower will be the last link in a new countywide communications loop of shorter towers that are more efficient.

The web of towers should elminate the need for the county to rent space for emergency communications on top of Steptoe Butte, said Martin.

The system upgrades are being funded out of the county’s emergency communications sales tax which was approved by voters in 2006.