HILLSDALE, N.J.—Two residents pressed the Borough Council to come up with a solution to poor, unreliable cell service in the eastern part of town at the June 9 council meeting.
Borough Administrator Michael Ghassali said June 9 that officials were working with AT&T, and other carriers on alternatives to a large monopole cell tower. He said he would be providing an update at an upcoming meeting. The next council meeting is July 14.
East side residents have told council that the unreliable cell service is an emergency as vital calls to emergency services, such as ambulance, police and fire personnel, often get dropped or require drastic action to reach first responders when residents’ lives are at risk.
On June 9, resident Megan Gerin said that “nothing has happened” since the council’s 4-2 vote against approving the monopole tower lease. She urged the council to explore small cell tower options in lieu of a larger monopole tower. She suggested maybe AT&T or T-Mobile might be willing to do small cell towers to improve coverage.
Gerin said that residents do not want a monopole, and urged the council to address what she said they had called “a public emergency” with action before November.
Another resident, Rick Savino, told council he had a “recurring nightmare” that he wakes up to his smoke alarm going off, goes outside to call emergency services and does not have a cell signal.
“That is a lot of us on the east side of town and this cannot be pushed on the back burner,” Savino said, noting the lack of reliable service “is an emergency to many people, it’s critical,” he said.
Sheinfield said he was not aware of any carrier willing to provide small cell towers, and previously said that small cell towers did not have battery back-up power during power failures.
He said he was not aware that any providers had offered alternatives, although he noted that Ghassali was talking to carriers to see what might be possible. He said he believed the monopole at Stonybrook was probably the best option to improve cellular coverage.
Sheinfield told us he had reviewed all six possible options for a cell tower monopole in a May 14 Facebook post on his mayor’s page, and said that following the council’s 4-2 vote against authorizing a cell tower lease at Stonybrook, they asked providers to offer options.
Sheinfield’s post declared that all six options were off the table, including Stonybrook due to the council’s vote not to authorize the lease.
Other sites ruled out for specific reasons included: Pascack Valley Regional High School; River Vale Golf Course; Hillsdale House; Pascack Bible Church; Meadowbrook Elementary School; and Stonybrook.
The council voted 4-2 on April 14 to reject authorizing a 25-year lease with Verizon to construct a 130-foot-tall cell tower at the Stonybrook Swim Club to improve east side cell service. Voting to approve the cell tower lease were Democratic councilors Christopher Camp and Melissa Mazza-Chiong.
Voting against were Republican councilors John Ruocco, Clemente Osso, Robert Colletti, Jr. and Anthony DeRosa. Nineteen of 23 residents providing public comment on April 14 opposed the monopole cell tower at Stonybrook Swim Club.
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