Commissioners resolve tower controversy – for now

On Tuesday, Cook County Commissioners unanimously voted to support a 180 foot ARMER radio tower for the Cascade tower location. MnDOT had considered a 330 foot tower but after further investigation, concluded redundancy and coverage needs would be satisfied by the shorter tower.

MnDOT representative Shane Chatleain said the mandated coverage for the emergency system is 95 percent coverage and MnDOT estimates their coverage in Cook County is 98 percent.
The question of putting up a tower at the end of the Gunflint Trail near Seagull Lake was raised. Chatleain said any decisions were at least a year away and it was not clear at this time if the tower was needed. Some confusion exists over who suggested the Seagull tower. Chatleain said it wasn’t MnDOT. County IS Director Rena Rogers said it may have been suggested by members of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department a while ago.

Commissioners Garry Gamble and Frank Moe made clear they wanted any towers to be a matter of negotiation between MnDOT and the county no matter on whose land the tower would be built. Chatleain agreed the process should be mutual.

Commissioner Jan Sivertson wanted to be sure tower construction was driven by the public safety needs of the ARMER system and not by commercial cell phone interests. Chatleain assured the board he had no authority to offer tower space to commercial interests. He said if MnDOT were approached by a commercial user, they would need to consider it, but he said any income generated by tower space rental would be minor toward offsetting maintenance or power costs.