Commissioners discuss partnership with MARC Towers

| May 8, 2013

COSHOCTON – The Coshocton County Commissioners met today, May 8 to discuss a possible partnership with MARC’s towers for a new push to talk radio systems that will be installed in the county. Darryl L. Anderson, program director, gave a brief history of MARC’s towers in the state of Ohio and stressed the need for one more tower between Coshocton and West Lafayette.

There are currently 218 MARC’s towers statewide, 10 of those being in Coshocton County and the surrounding areas. These towers have outgrown their capacity on the current system being used, so Anderson wants to upgrade those towers to the new P25 platform, which should be completed in the county this time next year.

Currently, Coshocton County tower locations include Conesville, White Eyes, Killbuck, New Castle, and Brinkhaven. These towers, along with the others located in the surrounding areas, will be upgraded for a total of 3.5 million dollars within the next year. The plan is to build a new tower in between West Lafayette and Coshocton on the site of the old county home.

All of the local towers provide access to in-car radios used by emergency responders in our county. The weakest signal area where not much coverage is provided is in West Lafayette. A new tower should eliminate this problem.

This new 250-foot tower would be built by county funds and MARCs would maintain the tower after it is built. The company would also reimburse 50 percent of the cost in user fee credits. The estimated cost of the potentially new West Lafayette tower is $650,000.

The commissioners then met with Lt. Jim Crawford about applying for a 2014 high visibility enforcement grant. This federal grant gives 700 hours of law enforcement control for holidays and special programing. The total amount of the grant is $27,799.63 and is 100 percent reimbursable. The money used for the grant last year is still available, so no money increase is needed.

“It’s a good grant,” said Crawford. “It puts the cruisers on the street where they need to be and doesn’t cost the tax payers money.”

The commissioners approved a motion for Crawford to apply for the grant again this year.

To close the meeting, Jeff Wherley updated the commissioners on regulations to install new park benches at the court square and on Main Street. The goal is to replace the current wooden benches with 20 new plastic benches made from recycled plastic. Each bench will need to be labeled with a plaque stating that the benches were paid for by Coshocton Solid Waste District. Benches are $300 each and plaques would cost around $100.

Among other items on the agenda, the commissioners approved a motion to sign Resolution 2013-14 for the Brine Permit Application from Walhonding Valley Sand and Gravel for the surface application of salt brine to the company’s haul road, lot for dust control and on stock piles for ice control.

To see the Commissioner’s complete agenda for the May 8 meeting, visit www.coshoctoncounty.net/agency/boc/Minutes.php.

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Category: Government

About the Author ()

I have been employed at the Coshocton County Beacon since September 2009 as a news reporter and assistant graphic artist. I am a 2004 graduate of Newcomerstown High School and a 2008 graduate of Capital University with a bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing. I am married to John Scott and live in Newcomerstown. We have two beautiful daughters, Amelia Grace Scott and Leanna Rose Scott.

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