Dear Supervisor - September 25, 2004

Back to Main Page

October 30, 2004

Dear Supervisor,

I urge you to vote against approving the purchase of the Thuli Road tower site for the following reasons:

1. The Thuli Road site is visually conspicuous from the Wisconsin Riverway.

2. The Thuli Road site does not meet the requirements of the Leonard J. Koehnen Report.

3. The Thuli Road site is not the best location for a single tower in Spring Green.

4. Alternative Wireless Internet technology is not supported.

1. The Thuli Road site is visually conspicuous from the Wisconsin Riverway.

The Lower Wisconsin Riverway is a national treasure not only in its natural beauty, but in the example it has provided for the rest of the world. It is inevitable that our community will mature, but we, the people living here, must respect and defend the sanctity of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway.

Alternatives to violating the sanctity of the river should be seriously considered. Alternatives to a large tower on the river do exist. However, the CIC has yet to propose a single alternative that conforms to the spirit of the Riverway Act.

The Lower Wisconsin Riverway is a natural landmark that is protected by law. Sauk County supervisors have a duty to protect our county’s heritage. Our heritage is more important than a rush to complete a project.

2. The Thuli Road site does not meet the requirements of the Leonard J. Koehnen Report of June 6, 2003.

In general, the Koehnen Report (June 6, 2003) recommendations have little in common with the CIC’s proposed 10-tower fiber-optic project. The Koehnen Report recommends a targeted upgrade to improve the weak spots in the system. The CIC project is a totally new replacement system. (Does an equivalent of the Koehnen Report exist that defines the current project?)

The main requirement in the report for the Spring Green area was service along the river and into the roads leading away from the river into the bluffs between Sauk City and Spring Green.

Page 2 of the Koehnen Report Executive Summary: “Your radio system plant has serious issues… At points along Highway60 and in the Wisconsin River.”

The Koehnen Report states that a tower is needed midway between Sauk City and Spring Green (in Mazomanie or Arena).

Page 1 of the Koehnen Report Executive Summary: “A site is needed for the south county line. Law, Fire and EMS have no service on the river and roads leading to the river. Look to a site at Dane County’s Mazomanie Site or the Arena water tank. The Spring Green water tower tank solves most of the problems but it has electrical and mechanical issues.”

To cover the area north of the river between Sauk City and Spring Green, an antenna needs to be placed south of the river in Arena or Mazomanie. The Thuli Road tower has less line-of-sight up the river than the Spring Green water tower. The Thuli Road site does not provide the required coverage that would be provided by antennas in Arena or Mazomanie as recommended by Koehnen. Will another tower be needed between Arena and Mazomanie before this project achieves its goals?

3. The Thuli Road site is not the best location for a single tower in Spring Green.

The Koehnen Report states that the fire pager tower has to be 5-8 miles from town to activate pagers.

Page 4 of the Koehnen Report Executive Summary: “Where Should the Additional Towers Be Located? The Limiting factor in any public safety radio system are fire pagers. To provide the 48-55 dbu signal to activate a pager in a building, the tower should be about 5-8 miles from a town.”

The Thuli Road site is at the base of the bluff outside of Spring Green less than 2 miles from town. This location may not perform adequately to improve pager service in Spring Green.

The existing “Spring Green tower” is 2.8 miles north on Highway 23. The Koehnen Report calls for this tower to be replaced. Is the Thuli Road tower designed to replace the current tower or will another tower be needed in Plain before this project achieves its goals?

The top of the 250 foot tower is below the top of the 300 foot bluff. Most antennas will be lower than 250 foot. These antennas will not have the same line of sight as the current tower on Highway 23. Instead they are limited to the river valley and have no line of sight over the top of the bluff towards Plain or the courthouse or up river towards Mazomanie or Sauk City. The Thuli Road site does not have a line of sight to the Lone Rock airport because it is so close to the bluff.

Should supervisors be voting to approve the purchase of a single tower site when the entire network design is not yet completed? If a decision is made to add more towers to the network it would affect the usefulness of the Thuli Road site. The entire network design should be completed before purchasing any sites.

4. Alternative Wireless Internet technology is not supported.

The area along the Wisconsin River between Sauk City and Spring Green is used by thousands of tourists and canoeists each year. This is a perfect area to deploy a public wireless “Hot Spot” to provide families enjoying the river with direct communications through the Internet using handheld devices. The public requires wireless communications to deal with emergencies in inaccessible areas.

The new 802.16 WiMAX public high-speed wireless Internet technology should be considered before constructing the new tower. This technology enables the public as well as emergency personnel to communicate. Other counties and cities are deploying these systems for public and government use. Homeland Security recommends it for interoperable systems. Sauk County has a unique opportunity to move our public services into the future.

Page 4 the Koehnen Report Response to County RFP Questions: Voice over IP (VOIP) is coming and once this does, all transmissions can be co-mingled and assigned bandwidths limited by the T-1 framing. Synergisms will develop between the needs of various users sharing data systems. VOIP will be available within 5 years.”

In conclusion, I ask you to vote against purchasing the Thuli Road property. The impact of this tower on the river and the community will last for many years. It would be prudent to take more time before making this decision. The CIC needs to propose viable, alternative solutions before the decision can be made. The Wisconsin Riverway is a special place in our county heritage and it deserves our special attention and care.

The Koehnen Report is the only engineering report that exists for a project to upgrade the county communications network. Yet the current project has varied significantly from the recommendations in this report. Please review this report and compare it to the current project’s specifications.

Respectfully,

Mark Culverhouse

Other Letters to Supervisors on Wireless Internet for Sauk County