Calling it a “game changer,” Sangamon County board member Dave Mendenhall (at microphone) announced a $13.9 million project for four towers as part of the STARCOM 21 communications system.

It replaces equipment which is fifty years old. Mendenhall, adding the county has “dead spots” where the existing radios won’t work and that parts are now hard to find, compares the current system to a car with 450,000 miles on it.

A news release lauds the contributions of Brandt, Bunn-O-Matic, and the village of Illiopolis in leasing land for the project, due to be finished next year.