Shawn Wolford, director of Nicholas County Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, is applying for the state’s Tower Assistance Fund (TAF) in early November, reported Emergency Management.
The fund was created in 2005 and is administered by the Public Service Commission to boost the state’s wireless capabilities. The TAF requires that any new towers built provide both emergency communication capability and some form of wireless technology – cellular or broadband.
The proposal would help to replace the existing 100 to 120-foot tower in Nicholas County with a 300 to 350-foot tower, which will benefit the WV SIRN (statewide interoperable radio network), said Wolford. “It would be hugely beneficial, not just for our county but the other counties as well,” Wolford said. “If it would become a state SIRN site, part of the statewide network, then obviously that would be huge for the other counties as well, being able to access it and have coverage in different corners of their counties.”
Another project to bring high-speed broadband internet to Nicholas County and surrounding areas is also underway, funded through the Small Cities Block Grant (SCBG) from the West Virginia Development Office. Cassandra Hughart, a community program specialist with the Planning and Development Council, commented on the issue of poor connectivity in West Virginia, “The areas are being left behind as a result of inadequate internet access. The loss of opportunity cost to the residents includes education, entrepreneurship, job opportunities and health-care access.”
According to Wolford, he’s hopeful for a turnaround on the tower application by the end of the year, which is not reliant on the broadband grant application and may move forward with any other wireless component.
October 30, 2017
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