Title
Adoption of Incorporated County of Los Alamos Ordinance No. 730 An Ordinance Ratifying and Authorizing Amendment of a Lease with Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless for Replacement of Existing Antenna Collocation and Facilities at 280 North Mesa Road, Los Alamos, on the North Mesa Water Tower
Recommended Action
I move that Council adopt Incorporated County of Los Alamos Ordinance No. 730 An Ordinance Ratifying and Authorizing Amendment of a Lease with Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless for Replacement of an Existing Antenna Collocation and Facilities at 280 North Mesa Road, Los Alamos, on the North Mesa Water Tower; I further move that, upon passage, the Ordinance be published in summary form.
Utilities Managers Recommendation
The Utilities Manager recommends that Council adopt Incorporated County of Los Alamos Ordinance No. 730.
Board, Commission or Committee Recommendation
The Board of Public Utilities introduced Ordinance No. 730 at their regular meeting of February 21, 2024 and recommends that Council adopt as presented.
Body
Verizon Wireless has been a tenant operating cellular telephone equipment attached to the North Mesa Tank since 2005, a copy of the endorsed original Lease is included with this report. The original Lease was extended by five years and included an increase in the Lease use-fee in conformance with the escalator terms. In 2010 the Lease was again extended another five years and Verizon requested an amendment to the Lease to upgrade their equipment, approved and effective April 30, 2011 (see included Amendment 1). In 2015, Verizon again desired to extend the Lease and change and upgrade their equipment, through a Second Amendment which was approved and made effective October 1, 2015. In 2020 Verizon requested another extension of five years, as allowed by the Lease, which was granted per the terms of the Lease without amendment, but Verizon also underwent an operating change, with Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless. In 2022/2023, the DPU required Verizon, now doing business through Cellco Partnership, to remove their equipment from the water-tank for maintenance-painting of the water-tank. Cellco now desires to take advantage of the opportunity to change and upgrade the equipment during the re-installation process and has provided the DPU with the appropriate load analysis engineering drawings and Radio Frequency interference analysis. The upgrade analysis reveals there will be No-Impact to the water-tower if the upgrades are allowed. The County Attorney's Office and Department of Public Utilities staff have been working with Cellco to draft Amendment No. 3 to “ratify” the Lease, due to the name and operator change from Verizon to Cellco, and to review and authorizes the upgrades for the replacement of the existing 9 antennas and accessory equipment. The DPU requested and Cellco agreed to a one-time engineering and administration review fee of $15,000 for the upgrades. The annual/monthly use-fee will continue to follow the escalator clause from the original Lease. Ordinance No. 730 is scheduled for approval in a public hearing of the County Council on March 26, 2024 and will become effective May 6, 2024, if approved. Once approved, the Verizon/Cellco contractor will apply for a building permit to complete the work on the water-tower. DPU water production staff will work closely with the contractor to grant access to the tank and to observe the work to ensure there are no impacts to the tank and associated facilities.
Alternatives
If the Ordinance is not adopted and ratified by Council the amendment and associated facility upgrades will not be permitted.
Fiscal and Staff Impact/Planned Item
The tenant will be assessed a one time fee of $15,000 for the cost of the County to review the proposed upgrades and administrative work associate with preparation of the amendment.
Attachments
A - LAC Ordinance No. 730 - Verizon Wireless
B - Cellco Partnership Status with NM Secretary of State
C - Original Lease between LAC & Verizon Wireless
D - Amendment No 1 to Lease with Verizon Wireless
E - Amendment No 2 to Lease with Verizon Wireless
F - Amendment No. 3 to Lease with Verizon Wireless
G - Publication Notice