MANSFIELD — Rapidly rising costs of construction material, including steel, have driven up the price to build and equip a new communications tower in Lucas.
Originally estimated at a cost of around $550,000, the cost of a new 330-foot Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS) tower will now be around $671,500, Richland County commissioners were told Tuesday morning.
Commissioners, meeting with sheriff’s Capt. Jim Sweat and MARCS representatives Dick Miller and Amanda Spencer, approved seeking bids for the project, which will improve public safety communications in southern Richland County.
A state capital improvement grant is covering $400,000 of the project with the county covering the remainder.
About $25,000 of the increase is because the base of the tower will need to be 35 deep, instead of 30, based on soil analysis at the site, Spencer said. The rest is just the rising costs of things like steel, fuel and supply chain issues.
“I think it’s the cost of everything … steel is up, the cost of delivering the tower from the manufacturer to the site, the cost of delivering the shelter from the manufacturer to the site, because fuel is up, cost of concrete is up because fuel is up,” Miller said.
“It’s not any one thing that stands out to me. It’s the bits and pieces all over the entire project,” he said.
The tower on will replace a 90-foot structure on village-owned land at the dead end of South Union Street. It will include a building to house the radio equipment.
Plans include a sublease with Verizon Wireless for cell phone and broadband services, using the tower.
It’s the next step in a process to upgrade emergency communication in that began five years ago, including the movement of fire departments from an outdated VHF radio system to the digital MARCS system.
The bid will offer contractors two types of construction — a traditional straight pier sunk 35 feet down and also an alternative pad-and-pier design. Spencer said the alternative could offer a cost savings.
Commissioner Tony Vero said the county has money in its capital projects fund and could also consider using American Rescue Plan Act funds for the work after the board finalizes the estimated $3.1 million in ARPA replacement revenue.
The county will receive about $23.4 million in ARPA funds, half of it already received and the remainder coming in 2022. The guidelines allow local governments to use a percentage of the funds to replace projected revenues lost due to COVID-19.
“We would have to look at that a little more in-depth with the use of (ARPA),” Vero said. “But when you talk about money for infrastructure, this is something the public obviously wants.
“We need (the tower) for our safety services. I get asked by people all the time in Lucas when is that cell equipment going up on the MARCS tower. We definitely need to do this,” Vero said.
Once bids are received and commissioners select a contractor, the project will take at least two or three months to complete.
“We have done them in the middle of the winter before,” Miller said.
