Tower site construction progresses

Mark Mahoney Randolph Times

HARTINGTON – Construction continues on the new support building located at the site of Cedar County's new emergency communications tower.

Kevin Garvin, the county's director of emergency management and 911 communications coordinator, was on the Aug. 8 meeting agenda to update the board of commissioners on the tower project, but was unable to attend.

In a follow-up interview, he described the completion of the structure as the next step for the project.

'We need to finish the building yet,' Garvin said. 'Once it is done, the tower crew will be back to install the antennas and cables.

'Once we have antennas and cables run, we have to install the grounding components and fencing,' he said.

Garvin said the project is 'within the anticipated schedule,' with the roof for the support building likely being finished this week.

Jody Koch Construction & Excavation Inc. of rural Hartington began working on the support building on June 26, with the completion on this part of the project expected in September.

'If everything goes according to plan, we hope to start moving radio equipment in near the end of September,' Garvin said.

The new tower is located about two miles north of Hartington, on a one-acre piece of property with a ground elevation estimated at nearly 1,530 feet above sea level.

The process to replace the old tower started more than a year ago in May 2022, after a haboob – a storm with straight-line winds of 80-90 mph – caused it to fall over.

The blown-down tower sat on a single pin on a concrete pad near Hartington and was held up by several guy-wires – tensioned cables – on three different sides.

The 300-foot-tall tower – which had been standing since the mid-1970s – fell down because one of the guy-wires failed during the storm.

The new tower is a 400-foot-tall, self-supporting – no guy-wires – structure that is made from galvanized steel.