5.4 ERMUSR 08-16-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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16 Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway phone: 763.441.2020 Elk River, MN 55330 Fax 763 141 8099 July 13, 2005 To: Elk Ri\er City Council From: Bryan Adams At' Subject: Telecommunications Antennas on Water Towers In the process of trying to locate additional telecommunication towers in Elk River, it is the desire of this council to revisit the issue of locating telecommunication antennas on our water towers as an alternative. ' This issue was first discussed in 1997 and again in 2000. Attached is a memo dated March 29, 2000 addressing this issue. With the enactment of the Federal Bioterrorism Act, all water utilities serving populations in excess of 3,300 are required to do a security vulnerability self assessment and submit it to the Minnesota Department of Health and the U.S. EPA administrator. Elk River has done this assessment and attached is the "Certification of Completion of Assessment." This vulnerability assessment and associated procedures for access to water towers is now raised to a new level. ' Currently the Elk River Municipal Utilities does allow 2-way radio antennas on our water towers for the Sherburne County Sheriff/Elk River Police Department, Elk River Street Department and Elk River Municipal Utilities. These organizations are allowed on the towers because they are local known entities and we can control the access. Security issues are a much less concern with local law enforcement agencies. The security issues can be resolved with a number of strategies. They are as follows. 33 /6- - I 1) Utilize a non-operational water tower such as the tower on Jackson Street. Telecommunication companies have been reluctant to use this tower possibly due to location, age, or not tall enough. 2) Antennas being located on the outside of the tower in the fluted area below the bowl where inside access is not required. This may not be acceptable due to not being high enough. 1 t