KYLE — Kyle City Council members voted on Nov. 19 to approve a resolution authorizing an agreement with Diamond Communications, LLC for the lease of wireless telecommunication space in hopes of improving coverage within the city.
According to director of administration services Rosie Truelove, this comes after staff gave a presentation to council in April, where complaints were identified regarding cellphone coverage in areas of the city: “There is a desire to address these concerns to improve health and safety of citizens and community. Some of our critical infrastructure also relies on wireless connectivity.”
A map displaying the city was shown, which noted areas with gaps in coverage to give council members an idea of what would be studied citywide. The area that had a lack of coverage is FM 1626, between and around H-E-B and Target.
Truelove then stated that staff issued a request for proposals in July, seeking qualified firms to submit for lease opportunities on city-owned property for wireless telecommunication equipment and received five total prior to the Aug. 20 deadline:
• Wireless Edge Consultants, LLC
• KGI Wireless, Inc.
• Terrabonne
• Verticalbridge
• Diamond Communications, LLC
Evaluation criteria consisted of: increased coverage, bandwidth and capacity; aesthetically appropriate use of property; technical expertise and capabilities and documentation of need; and experience with similar projects.
According to the presentation, Diamond Communications was founded in 2006 and has 150 employees across the country.
“Diamond Communications really stood out in that they would help us at the city really understand and maximize some of our revenue potential on our city facilities. They’ll really work with us on streamlining management [and] we would work with one company that would help us manage the multiple wireless communications and providers,” said chief development officer Melissa McCollum.
Additionally, McCollum stated that the company has worked with other government entities, school districts and cities.
With the proposed plan, Diamond Communications aims to work with the city on improving wireless infrastructure, which will increase coverage, integrating new infrastructure in an aesthetic manner and will absorb the costs associated with tower construction and infrastructure development.
With existing structures, such as rooftops, water tanks, etc., the city would retain ownership of the structure and receive 75% of the revenue recieved from any new tenant installed, while Diamond Communications would own new towers constructed and give a monthly rent of whichever is higher: $1,000, which would increase 2% annually, or 45% of the monthly revenue collected from the colocators on the tower.
Diamond Communications provided a presentation, which stated that with proposed “coverage improvements from new antenna site facilities at the water tower property on FM 1626, the water tower property on Old Stagecoach Road and the Wastewater Treatment Facility … Nearly 45,000 people will experience enhanced coverage if AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon installed their equipment at these locations.”
Council member Lauralee Harris questioned whether generators are used in the event of a power outage, to which a Diamond Communications representative responded that many cellphone carriers do and would put their own generator on site.
“The reason that we’re pursuing this is that council has gotten a lot of emails, a lot of requests from our residents wondering what we can do to help out with the wifi situations,” said council member Robert Rizo. “I’m glad that staff is taking this serious and moving forward.”
The item passed unanimously. Kyle City Council will next meet on Dec. 3.
