The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved the lease of county land for a new cell tower in Hebron at their February meeting.

The town’s cell coverage became the focus of national attention when Kaylin Gillis’ friends were not able to call 911 for several minutes after she was fatally shot at the home of Kevin Monahan.

Monahan was sentenced to 25 years to life for murder Friday.

It will be 250 feet tall, and according to the Hebron supervisor, it will be tall enough to see and bounce signals off all towers in Hebron and some surrounding towns, to greatly enhance cell coverage.

The tower is coming at no cost to taxpayers. It is in partnership with Verizon. The provider approached the town about building it after fiber-optic cables were installed there for broadband internet.

“For the price you pay for cell service, it’s nice if the cell service companies can step to the plate and build the towers. And as soon as this one gets built, hopefully we’re going to have fiber-optics to all the towers and that will change the availability to every cell service provider,” said Brian Campbell, the Town of Hebron Supervisor.

The town is expecting construction to begin in the spring.