By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- AT&T wants to renegotiate their deal with the town to lease space atop the Bowers Street water tower. They now pay $2,367.66 per month to put a cell phone transmitter …
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By ANDY GARDNER
MASSENA -- AT&T wants to renegotiate their deal with the town to lease space atop the Bowers Street water tower.
They now pay $2,367.66 per month to put a cell phone transmitter atop the tower, and were paying $1,850 when the lease started in 2004.
At the May 17 Town Council meeting, Councilman Tom Miller said he wasn’t in favor of cutting a break for the communications giant.
“I’m not in favor of giving them a lesser rate. They’re a multi-billion dollar business,” he said.
“There’s always somebody looking to put something on top of the water tower,” Highway Superintendent Frank Diagostino said.
“And that’s why they want the lease,” Town Supervisor Joe Gray replied.
AT&T presented the board with three lease proposals, but the town lawmakers said they didn’t understand the terms.
“There were three options and none of them made any sense,” Councilman Steve O’Shaughnessy said.
Town attorney Eric Gustafson said he could tweak a counteroffer so it would be more favorable to the town and protect their liability.
“On any of those leases I can make them work to make sure the town is protected,” he said. “We know we can lease this out at the end of 2019 without any trouble.”
Gray said the board would discuss the contract in executive session and put it on the agenda for their June meeting.