By FRANK NARDOZZI

The cell tower located on a hill behind the Fox Lane school campus was the center of much attention at the Bedford Central Board of Education meeting Wednesday.

The meeting started out with the board's vice president, Elm Sullivan, criticizing school board member Joseph Whelan for suggesting in a recent letter to the editor in The Record-Review that the school district was losing millions of dollars in revenue by ignoring an offer by a telecommunications company to use the Fox Lane antenna.

The meeting drew to a close with the school board considering the approval of an application from Westchester County to install a new fire and emergency medical radio communications system on the tower - free of charge.

Ms. Sullivan spoke during the introductory portion of the meeting, set aside for board announcements, to say that, contrary to what Mr. Whelan had asserted, the district had not been offered any additional contract by a telecommunications company. She noted that the district currently derives just less than $100,000 per year in fees from Verizon and AT&T, which have equipment colocated on the tower.

"That money does not approach the millions that you allege in your letter," she said. "We can argue about whether we should pursue additional contracts."

Mr. Whelan responded that if the $100,000 were paid annually over a 25-year period, with five- and 10year contract renewals, that would amount to $2.5 million. He suggested that Nextel had offered to colocate on the Fox Lane tower.

Assistant Schools Superintendent Mark Betz responded that Nextel had asked for permission to examine the site, but had made no offers after that.

During the business portion of the meeting, Robert Gallagher, the director of communications technology for Westchester County, requested permission to install and maintain a new radio system on the Fox Lane cell tower to improve the communications system for local fire departments and the emergency medical system of northern Westchester.

"Our existing system is antiquated and frequently breaks down," Mr. Gallagher said. "We also have dead spots and coverage problems."

Mr. Gallagher stated that the Fox Lane tower was one of nine already existing cell tower sites that the county was seeking permission to use.

He said that the county would pay for any expenses incurred during the installation of the new equipment and would be responsible for equipment maintenance. He also said that the county's radio system would not interfere with the other telecommunications systems that were already on the Fox Lane tower.

In response to questions from the hoard, county representatives stated that the new system would require the installation of five, 15-foot "stick antennas" made of white fiberglass that would not be very visible from a distance.

When asked about the state's cell tower at the intersection of Route 172 and 1-684, the county's technical expert stated that "there is not the view to Mount Kisco" that would be afforded by the Fox Lane tower, referring to unobstructed radio transmission sight distances.

The engineer stated that the new radio system would operate on 75 watts of power, which is one-third of that used by the new cellular communications systems. Radio frequency radiation would be half as great, posing no concern about radio emissions, he said.

Ms. Sullivan asked how much of an increase in emissions could be expected if the new antennas were installed at Fox Lane.

The county engineer responded that while the cell tower companies are transmitting continuously, the fire and emergency medical system would transmit only when there is an incident in the area.

"It's very low," Mr. Gallagher said. "Studies indicate that emissions decrease geometrically as one moves away from the antenna, to the point where it is almost negligible. The only concern would be for workers working on the antenna," he said.

The school board's president, Dot Fallon, said that she recognized the safety and health concerns that the new county radio system represented and wanted "to say yes" to the county's application.

However, she said that this was premature because of the approvals that were necessary from the State Education Department on the renewal of the current contracts for tenants, as well as for the installation of the proposed new equipment.

Asked about their timetable, Mr. Gallagher stated that the county hoped to start construction in the third and fourth quarters of this year and have the system up and running by the end of 2004.

Jonathan Best, executive director of Westchester Emergency Medical Services, also requested permission from the board to upgrade the existing medical telemetry radio base on the cell tower to improve medical emergency communications to the eight communities that participate in northern Westchester.

Mr. Best said that the new telemetry would require a smaller station and less electricity while providing more radio coverage with no addition to the tower. He proposed to install the new equipment by July.

Ms. Fallon called this request "less complex" than the antennas requested by the county; however, Mr. Betz stated that there were still contract issues involved.

He promised to do what he could to move the school district's timetables along.