During a work session Monday, Vance County commissioners heard from city officials about progress being made on construction of a communications tower at the North Henderson ball fields that will be funded, in part, by $2.175 million in federal funds secured by U.S. Congressman Don Davis.
City Manager Hassan T. Kingsberry and Assistant City Manager Paylor Spruill spoke to commissioners to ask whether the county is still willing to help with funding, if the need arises.
The city and county have an agreement to split 50/50 funding emergency communications that cover both the county and the city.
Spruill said it’s possible that the project can be completed without contributions from either the city or the county, but the final, all-in cost is unknown at this time.
What is known is that the city of Henderson is the weakest area in all of Vance County on the VIPER system because it is located on the fringe of four towers used by the county, said Brian Short, the county’s former Emergency Management coordinator.
The North Henderson ball field location is “the sweet spot” for the entire county, and putting the tower there – with equipment to support VHF paging and more – would fix two problems at once, Short said.
The North Henderson location has been through a vetting process and will have the ability to provide in-building coverage for the city in most of the downtown buildings, as well as a large area within the county.
But the federal funds will pay for the tower only; Short predicted it could cost an additional $1 million to outfit the facility with the equipment and everything else that goes along with the tower.
Once built, the state has said it would take ownership and would assume maintenance, including maintaining the VIPER system.
City leaders are in discussion now with Duke Power to “co-locate” on the tower. Spruill said the utility company is in the due diligence process right now, but added that “they’d likely contribute any remaining funds toward construction.”
WIZS News has reached out to Duke spokesman Beth Townsend and we’ll update the story when more details are available.
