County names Pipestone tower interim solution while WOJB status resolved; target to go live by October

Project staff reported on a July 24 design meeting with Gencom that reviewed sites, signal capacity, path profiles and terrain, and concluded the county can achieve reliable outside coverage using the Pipestone tower as an interim option while the future of the WOJB tower is decided.

"The whole system will be up and running by the end of October before snow flies," one project lead said, but he and other staff cautioned that indoor talk-back coverage in a small northeast corner of the county might be spotty while the interim configuration is used. The county aims to complete concrete foundations in the weeks ahead and erect steel in October so the system can go live.

Officials noted that if changes to the WOJB structure require code upgrades, the tower owner could ask the county to contribute to the cost; they said such terms would be negotiated at that time. Federal grant opportunities for the project exist, and the committee emphasized the timeline as a priority.