BY ANDREAS YILMA
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
NAUGATUCK — The borough is strengthening its communication for fire and police officials during power outages with a new generator for its radio tower.
The Board of Mayor and Burgesses at its July 5 meeting amended an existing license agreement with TEGNA Broadcast Holdings — doing business as WCCT-TV — and the borough for a renewal for up to four additional 5-year terms and for an increase in the license fee of $300 per month starting now.
This will be associated with the installation and storage of equipment and modifications to the property to add an emergency generator for the fire and police departments’ communications antenna.
Naugatuck Police Chief Colin McAllister said it will allow the borough to continue to maintain its current radio tower off of Peach Orchard Road, which sits near the Prospect and Waterbury town lines.
The tower site previously had a backup generator that broke two to three years ago. There have been power outages since then where the fire department would have to move its trailer generator to the tower during storms, McAllister said.
The new generator for the site will be propane powered.
“Obviously we could use that in other places in town powering that,” McAllister said. “In order for us to get an agreement to put a new generator up there we had to renegotiate the lease with the parent company which is actually Fox of Connecticut.”
Naugatuck Emergency Management Director Fran Dambowsky said it’s the right thing to do.
“To take resources, to take a generator and bring it up there and try to hook it up during this particular time when the power is down, it is really ludicrous,” he said. “It’s the wrong time to be doing something like that and taking resources away from the rest of the town and it’s dangerous.”
