MANSFIELD — Verizon Wireless had an advertising campaign years ago that asked a simple question: “Can you hear me now?”
As of Monday, if that question was asked on a cell phone from the Village of Lucas, the answer would be “yes.”
Verizon Wireless notified officials that its equipment installed on a 300-foot public safety communications tower in the village became active on Monday.
“The site is active. We are in the optimization phase, so there is the possibility of brief disruptions during the maintenance window and even during the day to bring additional services. At this point, the expectation is that it will be minimal,” a Verizon official sent in a notification.
Lucas Mayor Todd Hall hailed the announcement.
“This is huge for the Village of Lucas and the surrounding community,” Hall said Tuesday morning. “This is a project that has been in the works for several years.”
Hall said the issue came to light a few years ago when Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero came to a village council meeting and noticed there was no wireless signal available in the village hall.
Hall said as more residents stopped using land-line phones, the need for wireless service increased, especially in the event of an emergency that required a 9-1-1 call, for example.
“This wireless service does provide greater convenience for residents, but when you put the safety aspect into play, it gives a lot of people greater piece of mind,” Hall said.
“Rarely have I have gone out in public or to an event and not been asked for an update on when this service would go available,” the mayor said. “It’s been a great combined effort by the village, the county and MARCS.”
During a Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Vero praised the work.
“This is a good for Lucas and good for safety services. (I am) happy to announce that they have cell coverage in Lucas. It’s a good step forward down there,” Vero said.
“We continue to invest in safety services and the safety of our people.”
He thanked Richland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jim Sweat and Dick Miller, field operations for the Multi-Agency Radio Communications System, for helping to spearhead the effort to build the new $671,500 communications tower at 300 S. Union St.
That tower went into operation in September for public safety forces. At the time, Vero pledged to continue to push for Verizon to install its equipment that would provide wireless services for residents.
“We will get cell equipment up on that tower,” Vero said during a ribbon cutting 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.
Miller said in September the tower 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.
“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.”
