The Harpswell Select Board has contracted a Gorham firm to build a new, 100-foot-tall emergency communications tower at the Orr’s Island Fire Station for $121,720.
The Harpswell Select Board approved a contract with East Coast Communications LLC on May 25. The contract calls for the tower to be complete by Sept. 30, unless both parties agree to an extension. East Coast Communications submitted the lowest of five bids for the project.
The new tower will replace an 80-foot tower removed in November 2022. The town had long planned to replace the tower with a taller and sturdier structure, but the matter gained urgency when a lightning strikedamaged the old tower in June 2022.
Green Mountain Communications Inc., of New Hampshire, removed the old tower for $26,250.
A $300,000 bond, approved by voters in 2020, will cover most of the cost to build the new tower and outfit it with emergency communications equipment.
The total cost comes to $307,613, according to a memo from Town Administrator Kristi Eiane. The balance of $7,613 will come from the town’s contingency fund.
The replacement of the tower is one part of an effort to improve radio communications between emergency services in Harpswell and the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center in Windham, which dispatches those services.
