Atlas Twp. ? At 7:30 p.m. April 21, Genesee County 911 Director Lloyd Fayling will address concerns about the 800 MHz emergency dispatch tower planned for Atlas Township at the township planning commission’s public meeting.
The 800 MHz system will provide crucial coverage to keep emergency personnel, like fire and police departments, in touch with each other. An ongoing project, Genesee County is leading the state in installing equipment in cooperation with the state emergency system.
‘We’re the first one to do a hybrid system with the State of Michigan; we’re putting up our own towers to supplement it,? said Dave Ackley, deputy director of Genesee County 911, who’s been involved in the 800 MHz project since May 2002.
One of the county’s four towers will be situated in Atlas Township, holding two microwave dishes and up to four antennas, said Lloyd Fayling, Genesee County 911 director.
The 911 Consortium has its sights set on locating the tower at the southern edge of Genesee County Road Commission property, located on Hegel and Gale roads near Oaktree Elementary and Goodrich Middle School, far enough away from the schools in the unusual instance that the tower should fall.
The tower planned for the Atlas Township site is a 300-feet-tall non-guyed lattice steel tower, equipped with lights, and fenced to keep the tower inaccessible to thepublic.
While local officials are reluctant to fight a no-win battle against the 911 Consortium’s emergency dispatch project, the site is a sore spot. ‘I would like to see them co-locate off one of the existing towers,? said Paul Amman, Atlas Township supervisor.
An 928-feet-tall WFUM tower currently exists in Atlas Township, off Kipp Road near Washburn Road. The broadcast tower is owned and operated by the University of Michigan-Flint.
?(Co-locating on the WFUM tower) would save money, not cost 911 anything,? said Amman. ‘You would think with U of M being state supported that they would donate space to the 911 Consortium. It would only follow that one branch of the state would cooperate with another branch.?
Difficulty contacting UM-Flint and the cost of locating 800 MHz equipment on the WFUM tower led the consortium to eye the Gale Road site, says Fayling, who said it’s questionable whether the tower is strong enough to support the 800 MHz equipment.
In addition, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates how far past the county line signal can travel.
If co-locating on the WFUM tower is reconsidered, an engineering study would be required.
While the UM-Flint station can’t afford to pay for the study, they are very willing to discuss co-locating, says Jay Nelson, who has served as the WFUM station manager since February 2003.’We’re not unreasonable. We do feel public service is important,? Nelson said.
‘The next logical step is to all sit down face-to-face and work it out. There’s nothing that can’t be resolved, even if they don’t like leasing arrangements and wanted to give us a one-time payment,? said Nelson, who says that oversight of WFUM has changed from UM-Flint to UM-Ann Arbor. ‘We’re not unreasonable. We do feel public service is important.?
Fayling expressed surprise at Nelson’s statement.
‘We were totally unaware that perhaps their position had changed,? he said. Co-locating the 800 MHz equipment on a Hill Road tower would cost $699,000 compared to $284,800 for the consortium to build its own tower, according to a 20-year cost analysis, said Fayling.
Another factor in co-locating is maintaining control of the tower. ‘What if the tower’s sold? What if the company goes bankrupt?? said Fayling.
While the Montrose and Genesee township towers would be owned by a cellular provider, the consortium maintains control because they would control the property, Fayling said.
The tower planned for Atlas Township is the only one of the four county towers to be owned and paid for by the Genesee County 911 Consortium, to be used ‘strictly for public safety,? Fayling said. While the consortium isn’t eager to absorb the cost, it’s necessary, says Ackley.
‘Atlas Township was a concern because it was a long way from a tower,? said Ackley, adding the consortium will try to operate with the revenue raised by the current 911 telephone surcharge imposed for funding the new 800 MHz system and maintaining existing 911 operations.
The cost of radios and equipment installation for Atlas Township emergency personnel?-not including the tower?-is $107,424, said Ackley. Of that cost, the 911 Consortium will pay 60 percent, or about $65,000, leaving approximately $43,000 to be paid by Atlas Township.
Officials at the 911 Consortium are anxious to begin the project. ‘We want to break ground tomorrow,? said Ackley. ‘This is a project we need to get going.
Once ground is broken, Motorola, the company contracted to provide the 800 MHz equipment, will have 540 days to get the system up and running to the consortium’s satisfaction.
When the system is in place, firefighters and police officers will be able to communicate between emergency vehicles and personnel who have entered dense buildings.
‘Fire chiefs wanted the ability to walk into burning buildings and be able to talk back to their trucks,? said Ackley. Reaching all firefighters through paging will no longer be a problem with the 800 MHz system, Fayling said.
In addition, ‘talk groups? can be set up among individual or multiple emergency departments, meaning local fire and police won’t have to wait for others to quit talking so they can send messages.
The City of Flint didn’t plan to connect with the system due to the cost, although last year the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint granted more than $65,000 to study the feasibility of being added to the system.
Because of Fenton’s location, city officials are considering joining with bordering counties to meet its emergency dispatch needs, as Genesee County’s 800 MHz system plan doesn’t currently include other counties.
‘We haven’t gotten that far yet,? said Ackley, who says the attempt to get county towers in place has been a lengthy process. ‘Once we went to (the townships), there started to be all these hitches and giddyups,? he said.
Studies conducted prior to building the Atlas Township tower would include a radio frequency study, a strength analysis, and an EPA study, which includes keeping a log of bird activity in the area, Fayling said.
The World Health Organization established the the International EMF Project in 1996 to assess scientific evidence of possible health effects of EMF in the frequency range from 0 to 300 GHz (1 GHz is 1,000 times more powerful than 1 MHz). The conclusion?
According to the WHO site, ‘The main conclusion from the WHO reviews is that EMF exposures below the limits recommended in the ICNIRP international guidelines do not appear to have any known consequence on health.?
To learn more, go to http://www.who.int/peh-emf/en/ To learn more about what the Federal Communications Commission has to say about radio frequency safety, go to http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety/rf-faqs.html#Q5