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Steamboat Springs — Seemingly shady figures lurking on street corners or slumped in parked cars in Hayden all too often offer police the same explanation: They're looking for that sweet spot for cell phone service.

Police Sgt. Gordon Booco sees the problem all the time and says many other town employees and residents do, too. Officials are annoyed with the lack of reception and are planning to petition wireless carriers to step up service in Hayden.

"There's a lot of dead spots in Hayden," Booco said. "In a job like mine or public works, people get to where they know where the dead spots are, so people, if they have to make a call, they pull over, which isn't a bad thing."

The town uses Union Wireless for its staff phones, and Town Manager Russ Martin planned to talk about the issues with that company last week. Union engineers could not be reached for comment late last week.

Booco and Parks and Recreation Director Kathy Hockett plan to start with the Federal Communications Commission, Hockett said at Thursday's Town Board of Trustees meeting. The FCC's Web site includes petition forms where people can lodge complaints, she said. Hockett said she planned to e-mail that group to find out where to start.

"We're trying to find out what they want and take the easiest route to get our point across," Booco said at the meeting.

Booco spoke in an interview about the coverage of Verizon Wireless, which also provides service in the area. The town's concerns are serious, he said.

"I'm a lot of times the first responder to : ambulance calls," Booco said. "Me or one of the officers is often the first responder on the scene. There's been some occasions when, without cell phone service, we've been handicapped significantly. : We can talk to dispatchers, but there are times when certain things shouldn't be aired, and if we could talk to dispatch or a family member on the phone, it would make a huge difference."

The Hayden Board of Trustees discussed the issue at its December meeting. They brought up Hayden High School student Robert "Bobby" Donelson, who died after collapsing on the football field in November. Phone reception was a problem in that tragedy, Booco said.

"People couldn't get service on the field," he said. "People were walking around holding their phones up, trying to find a place they could get service."

Town talk

Verizon Wireless spokesman Bob Kelley said his company was aware of Hayden's concerns. The company has no plans to add a tower in Hayden through 2010, he said.

"Let me start by saying our coverage in Hayden is not where we would like it to be," Kelley said. "We're all about continuous improvement, and, right now, there is not in the near term a plan to add a cell site in Hayden."

Verizon does plan to add a tower in Craig, he said. Whether that helps Hayden depends on the lay of the land, Kelley said.

"On the prairies of eastern Colorado, 18 miles in not an issue at all," he said. "When you have a mountainous area, typography becomes an issue."

Verizon must reconcile its capital improvements with its priorities and how many people it helps, Kelley said. Sites cost about $750,000 to $800,000 to install, he said. Maintenance and continuing costs pile more money onto that price. The company does not release information about how many towers it has in a state or region, he said.

Verizon is willing to listen to residents, Kelley said.

"We certainly take it into consideration when we hear from communities," he said. "We do work; we have our affairs people that work with local communities at the town level and state level and federal level. It really comes down to matching up our build schedule and where we can add the most value by putting in a new site against our capital budget each year."

Booco said he and Hockett planned to talk to school district officials and businesses about signing a letter regarding wireless service. He would like to get something in writing to Verizon by March.

Hayden residents don't think they're getting enough for what they pay for wireless phone service, Booco added.

"People think, 'We're a little bit remote; we'll bide our time, and it'll get better,'" he said. "Well, it's not getting better."