SAN ANDREAS - Six months ago, during the summer lightning storm season, Calveras County sheriff's deputies started having trouble radioing back to the dispatch center in San Andreas.
The problem impacted deputies in several locations, and authorities suspected bad equipment in the dispatch center. So they made repairs.
"The problem still persisted," said Calaveras sheriff's Lt. Dennis Huberty.
Next, officials sent a contractor to check remote antennas. He found that antennas on three different mountain tops - Blue Mountain, Fowler Peak and Sierra Vista Mountain - had all been damaged, "likely caused by lightning."
Huberty appeared before the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to ask for up to $16,000 to repair those antennas.
"This was an unbudgeted event that was not foreseen," Huberty said.
Supervisors unanimously approved dipping into contingency funds to make the expenditure, but not before asking some questions.
"Are we simply putting it out there to be fried again?" asked Supervisor Steve Wilensky, who urged the installation of lightning rods to protect the equipment.
Huberty said that although the older antennas did not have lightning rods, such protective gear is now standard equipment. Huberty said the department is considering where lightning rod installations are needed.