Work on Cedar County’s new tower site edges closer to completion

HARTINGTON – Work at Cedar County’s new emergency communications tower site is getting closer to being completed.

Kevin Garvin, the county’s director of emergency management and 911 communications coordinator, was unable to attend the board of commissioners’ meeting on Sept. 26, but he did provide a written update on the tower project.

“The best I can say is that work continues to progress,” Garvin said in a follow-up interview.

The exterior of the support building located at the tower site has been finished, with Casey Roofing of Laurel recently installing the rubber membrane roof.

A generator for the tower site was delivered and installed on Sept. 28. Hartelco of Hartington installed fiber optic cable the same day.

Most of the electrical work at the tower site was finished on Sept. 30 and the installation of the surrounding fence started on Oct. 2.

“We are waiting on a few parts to arrive that are in transit that need to be installed before we can move everything (from the old tower site),” Garvin said.

“Before we can move, the concrete floor needs to have a coat of epoxy and the grounding needs to be completed,” he said. “Before winter, we will have to install ice protection for the roof and generator.”

Tower crew members are making progress and soon will be done.

“The tower crew is still working to install antennas,” Garvin said.