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Question: The cell phone tower in Lucas has been set up for (two months) now. Is there any word on which carrier(s) will occupy the tower and when the equipment will be installed? Thank you.
LUCAS — Tony Vero got a late-night reminder a couple of weeks ago that the cellular phone portion of the new communications tower in Lucas is still not operational.
The Richland County commissioner got a text message at 11:29 p.m. on a Saturday from a county resident in the Lucas area who needed safety services and was having a difficult time getting cell phone service.
Vero said he assisted as best he could and then made a phone call Monday to the Ohio Dept. of Administrative Services to ask for a status update on the efforts to get Verizon Wireless availability on the 300-foot radio communications tower that launched two months ago for county first responders.
Speaking during a commissioners’ meeting on Dec. 1, Vero said he was told Verizon officials have had the contract from ODAS for a couple of weeks. But there is no official word on when the cell side will be switched on for operations.
“We are waiting on Verizon to sign the contract,” he said. “We are proceeding and (ODAS) has been a great help. The hiccups or delays really have been on Verizon’s end.”
The commissioner pledged to stay on the case.
“I will continue to be my charming self to try to get a response from Verizon. If I don’t hear something by next week, I’ll probably call Verizon myself. I don’t want to interfere with what DAS is doing, but I will call if it’s needed,” Vero said.
The tower has had a dual purpose since it’s inception, which local officials acknowledged when officially launching the tower on Sept. 28.
“We will get cell equipment up on that tower,” Vero said on the date, standing near the base of the structure, which rises from atop a hill on the south side of the village.
“(The tower) has a two-fold purpose, particularly for this community. A lot of us don’t even have landlines in our homes anymore. Several years ago, we were smack dab in the middle of (Lucas) village hall and my phone said no service.
“(I said) that’s not acceptable. If people ever needed to call 9-1-1 or call the fire department and they don’t have the ability to do so, we need to fix that,” Vero said.
“Being an Italian pain in the butt is often cumbersome, but I will be a pain in the butt (about the cell service),” the commissioner said before the official ribbon cutting.
Dick Miller, field operations manager for the new $671,500 Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS) tower, has said the facility at 300 S. Union St. was built with Verizon’s needs in mind.
“Just so you know how forward-thinking the commissioners are, this tower is built with the loading that Verizon’s gonna need to put up there. So it’s already considered what that extra loading on that tower will be,” Miller said when the tower opened.
“So we’re good to go with it. The tower was built that way. So we’re ready for Verizon. We’ve got a contract ready for Verizon whenever they get around to getting here.”
