Montana Highway Patrol helps county pay for unused, unwanted tower | The Glendive Ranger Review: Although they have not yet rid themselves of the communication tower near Fallon, Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Mary Jo Gehnert said Dawson County has found help paying the bills from Montana Highway Patrol. The tower was erected in 2007 on Bureau of Land Management land with Homeland Security funds from the Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program.
However, by 2011 Interoperability Montana was running out of administrative and operations funding and on June 30, 2011 IM dissolved. When IM dissolved, approximately $10 million in grant awards, projects and contracts were abandoned.
“When the IM project went defunct, all of the expenses fell back on to Dawson County,” Gehnert said.
