Yoakum city council

Yoakum prepares for cell tower

By Clayton Kelley

  • The new cell tower will be located across from Block 2 next to 701 Front Street. The concrete foundation is poured along with a perimeter fence around it.
    The new cell tower will be located across from Block 2 next to 701 Front Street. The concrete foundation is poured along with a perimeter fence around it.

    A new cell tower is being built in the City of Yoakum.

    The tower will be placed across from Block 2 next to 701 Front Street.

    This is being built at the behest of AT&T and will also be able to accommodate Verizon and T Mobile.

    “The company that’s building this is City Switch,” Mayor Carl O’ Neill said. “Their main headquarters is out of Atlanta, Georgia. The engineer in charge of this is Jeremy Sharit. This was brought to council and approved back in the March meeting.”

    O’ Neill said that citizens of Yoakum have been really supportive of this endeavor.

    “A lot of people have been asking questions about this,” O’ Neill said. “This will cover about 90% of Yoakum including about a one-mile radius from that tower. We’re going to get good coverage. Anybody that’s on AT&T in particular will get great coverage. They have two additional antennas on top as well. I love that we’re getting a new tower. Personally, I use AT&T and I usually run about one to two bars and when I get close to towers, it gets up to three or four bars. We’re ready to get this going.”

    O’ Neill said this will benefit the city very much.

    “This will definitely cover all of those vacant spots in Yoakum,” O’ Neill said. “As of now, we have some gray areas and spots that aren’t great. There’s been issues with poor service in the past especially during moments where the weather is bad. This tower will eliminate any poor service.”

    The tower is about 115 feet tall.

    “Currently, the perimeter fence is up and the concrete foundation is poured,” O’ Neill said. “In two weeks, the tower will be up. The construction process will be one day. City Switch will bring in a big crane and stack it right on site and complete it in one day. The fibers for the connection may not be activated immediately. However, as soon as the fiber is tied in, it will be operational.”

    A technician will visit the site approximately once a month for routine inspection and maintenance. The project will not result in any significant land disturbance or effect of storm water drainage according to representatives from City Switch.