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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The City of Clanton came to an agreement with Verizon Wireless to put an unused water tower to good use and expand the coverage area in the city. The cooperative agreement between Clanton and Verizon provides a five-year renewable lease that will also generate additional revenue for the city, expand the coverage area and provide improvements in service and reliability for subscribers

Construction crews have already begun work to install the series of wireless communication antennas on top of the water tower that the City of Clanton owns near Keystone Drive. The city was going to have to either repaint the water tower or tear it down due to regulations, but the interest from Verizon prevented that decision from needing to be made. Also, the utilization of the water tower by Verizon will eliminate the need for construction of a stand-alone cellular tower.

“Within the next four months or so, we should be able to get real good service with Verizon,” Clanton Mayor Jeff Mims said.

Part of the lease agreement will put a portion of the proceeds towards the repainting and refurbishing of the water tower should the city require additional storage capacity in the future. The revenue from the lease agreement will aid the city with sufficient funds to complete the refurbishment project at no additional cost to them.

The new antenna installation and other improvements to the network will expand and improve Verizon’s 5G mobile coverage area for its subscribers. Mims added that AT&T is erecting a cell tower behind the stock yard in Clanton to help improve their customer’s service in the area as well. Verizon will also utilize the newly constructed tower by AT&T, further enhancing Verizon’s coverage in Clanton — the next steps to improving overall cellular coverage in Clanton no matter the provider.