Franklin County’s 911 tower is up, but Royston site remains stalled

Franklin County’s 911 tower was up as of a March 31 Board of Commissioners work session, but construction at a separate City of Royston tower site had not started because of unspecified issues, according to a report from Mr. Harris. The same update said the Highway 326 tower had electricity, signaling progress at two locations while leaving the Royston portion of the public-safety infrastructure rollout unresolved.

The split status matters because the sites are part of infrastructure connected to the county’s 911 system. For Royston-area residents, the report offers no indication that the work is finished countywide; instead, it describes a project moving ahead in some places while one location awaits a resolution before construction can begin.

By the March 31 session, the county had reached tangible milestones elsewhere: the 911 tower had been erected and the Highway 326 tower had power. At Royston, however, equipment, generators and fuel tanks were already in place, Mr. Harris said, yet unresolved issues had delayed the next step—starting construction. That means the delay came after materials were positioned at the site, not before the county had prepared it for work.

County officials, through Mr. Harris’s work-session report, presented the updates as progress on tower infrastructure while acknowledging the Royston delay. The record identifies the City of Royston site as the stalled location and identifies equipment on site, but it does not include a public explanation from city officials, contractors or other parties about what caused the issues or how they will be resolved.

The erected 911 tower and electricity at Highway 326 were reported as completed conditions on March 31. The Royston equipment, generators and fuel tanks were also reported in place, but construction there remained pending. The minutes do not establish whether the obstacle involves property, design, permitting, utilities, equipment or another matter, and they do not document a Board vote, a projectwide completion announcement or a later start of work in Royston.

The next concrete public checkpoint is a later Franklin County Board of Commissioners agenda, work-session record or minutes that documents construction, installation or completion at the City of Royston tower site. Until that occurs, residents still lack a construction start date, an explanation of what must be cleared first and an updated schedule for the remaining site.