Council

Council

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pagers of fire and rescue volunteers.

Increasing airwave congestion and newer pagers that are not as efficient as the old models were blamed for volunteer fire and rescue personnel missing calls over the past three years, McCarthy said, but particularly in the last six months.

To cope with degrading signal strength in areas furthest from the tower — especially in Castleton and Amissville but also in parts of Sperryville and Woodville — McCarthy said the county has tried every other fix suggested by its consultant, CTA Communications. This includes replacing the antenna on top of the current tower and the cable between the jail (which also houses the Sheriff’s Office and its dispatch center) and the tower, McCarthy said.

The $13,000 tower is being paid for by the county Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association, McCarthy said.

“You will see the tower — you’ll see it from a lot of places,” McCarthy said. “We did do a balloon test in an effort to be responsible for what we were going to... inflict on the town.”

Suggestions — that the antenna be moved to the treatment plant, or closer to U.S. 211 on the same former Carrigan property, or at the Washington Volunteer Fire Company — were put forth by Mayor Eugene Leggett and council members Gary Schwartz, Jean Goodine and John Sullivan and town attorney John Bennett.

“All of these are options, they just cost money,” McCarthy said. “But they don’t get to the issue of security." He was referring to the requirement that the connection from the tower to the' dispatch center console be as short as possible — and visible from the Sheriffs Office.

Told that a long-standing exemption for public safety structures meant the tower did not need Architectural ReviewBoard approval, ARB member Kevin Adams said: “No one is