Salem town staff will pursue negotiations with AT&T concerning locating a new cellphone tower at the site of the new highway department/fire station building.
AT&T approached the town with two possible locations under town control — the current highway building and the under construction new highway/fire station building along Highway C in Trevor.
Town administrator Patrick Casey said he was looking for direction from the board as to which site might be most appropriate.
Allowing the tower at the old site would essentially tie the town’s hands on possibly selling the site someday, Casey said.
The biggest disadvantage to allowing the tower at the new building would be, since construction would not start until next spring, that there might be some damage to the town’s paving from construction traffic. However, Casey said he would seek to have that addressed in any agreement between the town and AT&T.
All board members who spoke on the issue favored the tower going at the new building site. Reasons included the possibility of selling the old highway department site and that the tower would be less visible to current or future homes at the new highway/fire building site.
The town could expect to realize $700-$1,000 a month in revenue from hosting the tower, Casey said.
The board directed Casey by unanimous vote to continue to talk to AT&T about the tower project.
The tower would need to pass through all typical planning and approval processes, Casey said.