Radio tower going up on Barker Central campus

Thomas Tedesco, Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
Updated ·2 min read

May 9—A new structure is now visible on the grounds of Barker Central School District.

The Niagara County Sheriff's Office is in the process of installing a 180-foot emergency communications tower on the property through a grant-funded Mutualink program.

The goal is to assist emergency response to situations in Niagara and Orleans counties.

"It's just going to help with the overall connectivity, response times and communication for the sheriff's office as well as any other emergency responders that might be out there," district Superintendent Jake Reimer said.

The tower will also improve signal reception within Barker schools, according to Reimer.

"Because it's all brick, and where we are in the vicinity of Niagara County, the radio signals aren't very good getting out here," he said.

Having the tower on the BCS campus "just seemed like a win-win for everybody across the board."

The tower occupies less than an acre on the district's property and is located behind the school buildings.

Reimer said he was amazed that the tower went up quickly — over a three-day span — since project had been a long time in the making.

The sheriff's office first reached out to the district in 2020 about installing a tower on their property.

After nearly two years of planning and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ground was broken this past October.

Currently, antennas still need to be installed and the tower needs to be connected to electricity before it is fully operational. That work is slated to be completed in June, Reimer said.

The district will not charge rent to host the tower. Instead, the sheriff's office is providing free radios and other communication equipment for the schools.

"Having the tower and having that connectivity, it enhances the safety of our entire community, not just the school," Reimer said.

----While walking around the grounds of the school on Monday, this reporter observed National Grid crews across the way on Haight Road working on power lines.

Reimer said the crews had just started working on connecting the district's solar array to the power grid.

Eight rows of solar panels sit on four acres west of the school buildings. The panels were installed about a year ago and utility poles were recently installed by National Grid both on district property and across the street.

The district plans to have the solar array provide about 60% of the school's electricity, as school leaders anticipate greater need for electricity in the future. Reimer pointed out several New York State initiatives supporting electrification of campuses, where technology use is increasing.

"You can read the writing on the wall. I think that we're going to be mostly electric at some point," he said. "The goal is to get ourselves fuel future ready for all that kind of stuff."