15 May 2018 — 1223 mdt
Forum on cell tower at Flathead High begins at 1700 this evening
Tuesday, May 15 at 5 p.m. at the Kalispell Middle School Library and Media Room. The public is asked to enter the middle school from the upper parking lot by turning off Meridian Road onto Parkway Drive, as the front doors of the school will be closed. Flathead Beacon.
Citizens can speak this evening to a controversial proposal to put a cell phone base station on the roof of Flathead High School. After the one-hour forum, the regular meeting of School District 5 board of trustees begins.
Many opponents of the tower assert it will broadcase radio frequency radiation that can harm human health. The frequencies and power levels the tower would employ have not been, but should be, revealed.
Comments, available in the 67 megabyte documents package for the meeting, are running heavily against the tower, and the opponents of the tower have packed the record with information on the health effects of EMR.
The $20,400 per year rent the district would receive is mentioned in a memorandum (board package, p. 190) from Superintendent Mark Flatau to the board. That conflicts with the proposed contract with Verzion that SD-5 posted on its website. It’s my understanding from sources not associated with SD-5 that although the public comment window is open, the board’s finance committee has been negotiating with Verzion. If that’s true, that information should have been posted on the district’s website. And if there’s been negotiation during the comment period, it’s fair to ask whether the request for comments is a genuine request for information or just a scheme to placate the opponents of the tower.
Photovoltaic panels at the Jeannette Rankin school
During its meeting, the board will discuss a 25-year contract allowing the Flathead Electric Cooperative to install a 50 kilowatt photovoltaic array at the new Jeannette Rankin elementary school south of Kalispell (board package, p. 417).
1. Components to be Installed at Landowner’s Facility FEC will install the System in and upon the Facility.
The System will be comprised of a 50kW solar photovoltaic (PV) array and will consist of many parts including but not limited to the following: solar panels and associated mounting structures, inverter(s), optimizers, consumption meter, disconnect switch, conduits, and wiring.
2. System Ownership The System will be part of FEC’s Community Solar program.
The panels will be purchased and owned by participating FEC Members or, if unsold, by FEC.
Provided the panels are fenced, they should not present a health hazard — but why wasn’t a PV array owned by the district, and grid connected on a net metering basis, part of the original design for the school?