Hebron getting new Verizon cell tower, 2 years after Kaylin’s shooting death

Washington County’s Town of Hebron is getting a new Verizon cell tower. It’s being installed on Birch Hill Road, on county-owned property that already has a radio communications tower that serves EMS and other emergency providers, Washington County Public Safety Director Tim Hardy tells The Chronicle.

He said Verizon is building the tower; the County is providing the land.

The cell tower is not directly tied to the shooting death on April 15, 2023 of 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, Mr. Hardy said.

Her friends reported driving frantically in search of cell service to call for help after Kaylin was shot by a Hebron resident while in a car that was accidentally driven up a wrong driveway.

Kevin D. Monahan was convicted of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Mr. Hardy says there’d already been talk about increasing coverage in the area. “The situation sparked discussions, and I think this just kind of evolved from that.”

He said, “We were able to work out an agreement with Verizon, which would allow us access on the very top of the tower, which is what’s important to public safety radio systems.”

“We try and be great partners when we can increase cell coverage for people, because we don’t have that ability to do it on our own right. We need a vendor that wants to participate.”

Verizon’s equipment will be “a little bit further down the tower. It certainly will increase cell coverage in the area, which is beneficial to emergency services and all of our residents.”

At 250 feet tall, Mr. Hardy says of the new tower, “obviously ensuring that the base is sturdy is very important.

“The engineers were out there a long time. They had to drill down a ways.

“The strength of a self supporting tower is just amazing, when you think about the kind of equipment it holds and the ability for it to be long-term sustainable, regardless the type of weather it might be facing. It’s a big project.”

The County’s current tower, shorter and thinner, “is at capacity for us,” Mr. Hardy says. “Our intention is to continue to keep operating the tower we have there, but offload some of the capacity to get important stuff as high as we can on both towers. It will definitely be beneficial for our residents in cell coverage area and for us in radio coverage.” The go-live date is yet to be determined, he said.

Hebron Supervisor Brian Campbell calls it “a public/private partnership,” and “a huge success of expansion of cell service in our area.”

“Verizon is also engineering a fiber optic line to a tower at Patterson Hill, also in Hebron, to make more availability there, as well as in other parts of the County,” Mr. Campbell said.

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