MoveTheTower Newsletter - http://www.highway60.com/MoveTheTower

March 28, 2005

Dear Editor,

A majority of Sauk County supervisors have voted to spend $6 million to replace their obsolete, non-interoperable wireless communications systems with brand new, more expensive, more obsolete, non-interoperable wireless communications systems. The $6 million is paid solely from Sauk County taxes because the technology the county is investing in is no longer supported by federal grants. While other counties and cities are planning to deploy low-cost public wireless broadband Internet access, Sauk County has not even considered it. How could the county be making such a decision? Didn't this get caught in the public hearings for the new tower sites? Would a registered engineer have signed an engineering plan for such a project? The answer is no. Unfortunately, the county simply declared itself exempt from the county tower siting ordinance and did not hold public hearings or require a signed report from a registered engineer.

Last autumn I began pointing out that the county was building the wrong network. I attended a Spring Green Village Board meeting where Spring Green's supervisor Art Carlson introduced Tim Stieve, the county administrator in charge of the tower project. Tim Stieve and Art Carlson defended their decision to rebuild the county wireless system using the older existing technology. After that September meeting I tried to explain to Art the advantages of the county deploying a single, high-speed wireless Internet that all the residents of Sauk County could use. After listening for awhile, Art said, "The Internet? I'm not even sure people need the Internet". "But, Art", I said, "since the county is replacing their entire network don't you think you should get an expert's opinion about wireless Internet?" Art proudly pointed at Tim Stieve and said, "There's our expert!"

At the time I stated that a county-wide Internet system would cost $2-3 million based on projects by other counties and cities. At the September 21, 2004 Board of Supervisors monthly public meeting, Tim Stieve told the supervisors that a wireless Internet system for Sauk County would cost $62 million to install and $9.3 million each year to maintain! When the supervisors were told that a high-speed Internet system would cost 10 times more than their current $6 million plan, no wonder the supervisors decided not to consider an alternative plan.

The March 2, 2005 Home News has a lengthy letter signed by Kenneth Schlager, Ph.D., P.E. (Professional Engineer). The letter states, "I was asked whether the deployment of a $6 million voice wireless system in Sauk County was a wise investment. I replied that given the coming availability in 2005 of 802.16 WiMAX communications equipment with combined video, data and voice capabilities, I did not believe it to be a wise investment. I also stated that the 150 MHz network infrastructure costs seemed high relative to the approximately $1 million, 27-antenna site, WiMAX infrastructure that I have estimated for Rusk County."

So what are we to make of the huge discrepancy between the $62 million estimate by the supervisor's expert and the professional engineer Dr. Schlager's $1 million estimate? What kind of information were the supervisors given to make their decisions on the tower project? I asked a county official for Tim Stieve's qualifications and was told his brother is the Baraboo fire chief. I think the supervisors should immediately hire a professional engineer to find out the truth about the county's tower project design.

In April 2004 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report on the lessons learned from the September 11 attacks. Instead of maintaining obsolete radio systems that cannot talk to each other, DHS recommended replacing them with a redundant, high-speed interoperable wireless system. DHS makes grants only to counties who are deploying the new interoperable technology.

As an example of these obsolete systems, the current Spring Green tower is located 2.8 miles north on Highway 23. It is 140 feet tall and holds 11 antennas. The police have a voice system to talk to each other. The police have another system for data communications. The local fire department has a voice radio system. The fire dispatch has a system. Emergency paging has a system. The county transportation department has a voice system. The school district has a system. Wisconsin Power and Light has a system. All of these systems are paid for by the residents of the county. None of these systems can talk to each other. All of these systems can be replaced by a single highly-reliable, high-speed, wireless Internet system for less money than the county is already spending. And every resident would have wireless Internet access.

Sauk County chose to ignore the interoperability recommendations by DHS. Echoing the DHS policy change, Gov. Doyle on February 2, 2005 issued Executive Order #87 which created the State Interoperability Executive Council (SIEC). The Council will try to prevent situations where "emergency first responders and other vital emergency services utilize different radio frequencies and technologies that are often not interoperable". Sauk County is ignoring this statewide initiative to upgrade the county's emergency communications systems to work with each other and with those of other counties.

Tim Stieve has recommended replacing the existing 140 foot tower with a new 250 foot tower on Thuli Road. When wireless Internet arrives in Sauk County who will be putting antennas on the county's big new towers? WiMAX antennas will cost 1/10 less and be placed around the county on light poles, buildings and hilltops. There will be 2 to 3 times more of them to cover every square mile of the county, providing high-speed and high-reliability fixed and mobile Internet connections. Once wireless Internet arrives in Sauk County even the county employees will use it. The market for dozens of antennas on tall towers is at an end with the coming of WiMAX. Building nine new big towers with tax dollars is not a good investment!

At the March 2 CIC meeting, Tim Stieve asked to attend the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) this year because as he stated, "This conference has the latest on technology and would provide valuable information on the technologies and changes taking place." On the IWCE web site promoting the event, a description of a session entitled, "What’s Coming Next in Network Based Interoperability?" states, "The Internet Protocol is proving to be one of the most promising ways to create interoperability between First Responder radio systems." Sauk County taxpayers expect more than on-the-job-training for a project that affects all of our lives. The supervisors should hire Dr. Ken Schlager to disclose the truth about the tower project design.

The tower project is about more than wasting $6 million. It exposes how the majority of supervisors have abdicated their responsibility to provide oversight for this project. Ever since objections to this project have arisen in Spring Green, the county has adopted a strategy of denial. They want no facts, no analysis and no debate. There is only one solution, their solution. They have denounced and demonized anyone who questions their plans. They have said we do not care about "saving lives". They threaten to take their time responding to emergencies at our homes.

Sauk County government appears to be plagued by cronyism and nepotism. The "good old boy" system is not interested in representing the people. They are aligned to promote their narrow interests. People are elected from the community to represent the entire community. When supervisors get elected unopposed on election day, it signals to them that no one cares what they do.

In April, 2006 all the supervisors will stand for re-election. Since the majority of supervisors are not interested in discussing the issues, the only sensible alternative is to support candidates who will discuss the issues. It takes 20 signatures to become a candidate for supervisor next year. It takes 8 new supervisors to change the majority.

Mark Culverhouse
Spring Green
www.highway60.com/MoveTheTower