Lebanon County Commissioners voted Thursday, Sept. 20, to award a $3.36 million contract for the purchase and erection of seven emergency services communications towers across the Lebanon Valley.
Bob Dowd, director of Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services, told commissioners his agency received three bids ranging from $3.36 million to $7.73 million.
“Surprisingly, it is a wide range. We talked to them and eciWireless is local and has done a lot of this stuff in-house, very little subcontracting,” said Dowd, who added the Dillsburg company has conducted work on other projects for the county in the past.
Jonathan Hansen, project management professional with MCM Consulting Group, said the ability to self-perform the work is the biggest difference in controlling costs. MCM is serving as a consultant for this project to Lebanon County.
“We did review all three bids, eci was the lowest responsible bid,” said Hansen. “They did meet all of the bid requirements. All of their submissions – everything was complete. Just to add, as Bob said, they do everything in-house. The only thing they are going to sub out is a little bit of the electrical work. They do have their own crane, so they are not leasing cranes, which is very expensive for the tower and shelter installations.”
Following discussion, eciWireless was awarded the contract by a unanimous vote of commissioners at a cost of $3,367,594. The seven spots to receive towers are Union Township, Fredericksburg, Mount Zion, Schaefferstown, Mount Hope, Palmyra, and Mount Wilson.
Bid information provided to the press includes an itemized list of project costs, such as a 195-foot self-supporting tower and associated hardware and foundation design, tower shipping and offloading, erection, construction (foundation and site work), 12′-by-16′ shelter purchase and shelter shipping and offloading.
Commission chairman Bob Phillips asked if these are “fixed” bids, meaning there won’t be additional costs added to the project. Dowd replied that all three bids are locked with the caveat that there could be certain unknown costs like geotechnical, or rocks, that weren’t discovered during land surveys. “We’re always on the hook for stuff like that,” added Dowd.
County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth noted the project will be paid through a mix of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and a loan the county secured for construction of its new 911 Emergency Center, which is in the final stages of being fully operational.
“The source is the ARPA funds, this was, early on, set aside not only for the building but the tower sites as well,” said Wolgemuth. “There was some land acquisition that was necessary, which is additional to these costs but is also covered. It has evolved a little bit. We started off with nine (tower sites) and hopefully would have sites that we wouldn’t have to acquire, but as we went, that changed.”
Dowd said there are challenges that come with attempting to obtain tower site locations, adding it’s amazing how “many bodies get involved” in the process.
“Everything from historical societies to zoning variances,” said Dowd. “Towers are an unfortunate, necessary evil to support wireless infrastructure. You have to have them. They’re ugly, they’re always going to be ugly and nobody wants them, so it is a challenge to get them done.”
Wolgemuth said working with local municipalities is easier because their goal is to improve public emergency services communications with Dowd saying that while all entities were supportive of their efforts, red tape complicated the siting process.
Dowd previously told LebTown in exclusive coverage of the tower project that the seven new structures will bring ownership by the county to 11 of the 13 towers within its emergency communications system.
“The system total is 13, several of which we already own and two that we will continue to lease since we couldn’t find a better location,” Dowd said Thursday. “The rest of the towers that we are building, they address coverage gaps. When you are refreshing your system like this, it is kind of important to get feedback from users, which we did.”
Dowd added that the tower to be constructed at Mount Zion Fire Company is a perfect example, saying it will “address a huge coverage hole in that side of the county” that will be filled.
Besides addressing location needs, Dowd emphasized that finding governmental or like-minded partners like fire companies is most desired to streamline relationships. He added that private sector partners are only sought when public ones are unavailable.
As part of a separate action item, commissioners voted unanimously to approve a public safety radio system lease agreement with Mount Zion Fire Company for the cost of a new generator and related equipment, estimated to be around $30,000. The Mount Zion lease runs 20 years with an option to renew for another 20 years.
Dowd told LebTown that the agreement to purchase a generator for the fire company is a one-time deal. “Mount Zion wants us there because they have coverage issues, so they’re certainly willing to work with us and we really appreciate that,” he added.
Commissioner Mike Kuhn said the financial investment in the 911 Center and tower system is worthwhile, adding that tower ownership means they can lease space and generate revenue instead of spending funds as renters.
Dowd provided insight into that comment.
“It’s more capital to buy them, but the return on investment without any other revenue is somewhere between five and 10 years for each tower,” he said. “If you generate revenue from leasing, that return on investment is even faster and helps offset the cost of a system like this to the taxpayer, which is great.”
Dowd noted the entire Department of Emergency Services projects will run around $60 million, adding the the communications system is about $19 million and change of that overall figure. Wolgemuth stated the 911 Center, its technology and building contents are about $40 million, of which $29.7 million is for the 911 Center infrastructure alone.
LebTown has previously reported that the building’s infrastructure contains required redundancies to ensure public safety and functionality, which is necessary in large-commercial projects like hospitals, prisons and emergency services centers.
In other business, commissioners approved three agreements for its information technology services department. Two of the three contract recipients were not revealed for security purposes.
An annual maintenance and support agreement for $112,084.26 for hardware and software support was unanimously approved by commissioners, as was a hardware and software service agreement for the mainframe system, warranties and 24/7 coverage totaling $6,689.
A third agreement, this one with Microsoft Corp. for the annual renewal of the county’s email program at a rate of $16,435.76 per month, was also approved. It was noted that all three action items were pre-approved expenditures in the 2024 county budget. That means no additional taxpayer dollars are needed to fund these services for the county’s IT department.
In other business, commissioners voted to:
- Apply for a PA Counties Risk Pool grant from its insurance carrier totaling $10,000 to purchase IdentiSys, a full-service security, identification and card solution program. The new system, which replaces one that is seven years old, will print badges with lamination that cannot be replicated, which will help reduce the risk of a security breach at the county municipal building and help keep employees safe. The county receives $30,000 annually from its insurance carrier to lower its liability and has about $8,000 to spend through the end of May 2025 for this program year.
- Table three hotel tax grant funding requests totaling $17,500 for Motorama Productions Inc. ($7,500), Penn State Cooperative Extension ($5,000) and Susquehanna Showdown ($5,000) since the county’s unencumbered hotel tax grant fund is currently at $10,957. It was the third time that funding requests for Motorama and cooperative extension have been tabled and the second occurrence for Susquehanna Showdown.
- Issue a proclamation upon the retirement of Sheila Redclay for 29 years of dedicated service as the director of Matthews Public Library in Fredericksburg.
- Approve the resignation of Sara K. Fuller, chairperson of Lebanon County’s Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention Advisory Board, after 25 years of service. Fuller is being replaced on the board by Joseph Duke.
- Provide real estate tax exemptions for six fully disabled veterans.
- Approve the minutes of their Sept. 5 meeting and workshops on Sept. 4, 11 and 18. All of the workshop sessions addressed personnel matters.
- Accept the treasurer’s report and various personnel transactions. At the end of the treasurer’s report, an action was passed to open a separate account for the Election Integrity Grant fund.
After the meeting adjourned, commissioners, who serve as members of the county election board, convened a session to discuss numerous matters concerning the upcoming general election in November. Read LebTown’s coverage of that meeting.
Lebanon County Commissioners meet at 9:30 a.m. on the first and third Thursdays of the month in Room 207 of the county municipal building at 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon. Public workshops are held on an as-needed basis on Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. at the same location. Workshop sessions are announced at least 24 hours in advance at the county’s website.
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