A long-awaited project to bring improved cell service to the Katama part of Edgartown moves forward this week, following the completion of a lease with telecommunications company AT&T.

The company will pay the town a base fee of $28,000 per year for the use of an abandoned silo at Katama farm, in which it plans to install a cell antenna.

The term of the lease is 10 years, but it includes the option to renew for up to 30 years.

AT&T also has permission to construct a small building next to the silo, said town administrator Pam Dolby at a meeting of the selectmen on Monday.

“They are ready to rock and roll,” she said of AT&T.

The antenna is expected to go up by spring, extending cellular service throughout Katama and even to the western parts of Chappaquiddick, a small island off the Katama side of Edgartown which has limited cellular reception.

The town voted in the spring of 2011 to install wireless cell antennae inside the pair of abandoned silos. AT&T was the only provider to respond to a request for proposals from the town.

But an official agreement between the town and the company lagged in part due to a lawsuit brought by a neighbor, which was ultimately settled between the company and the abutter.

More recently, AT&T has raised concerns about the structural integrity of the silo, which is a remnant from a previous dairy farm operation.

A report submitted to the town conservation commission details these concerns. According to the consultant’s report, the structure is not built to withstand the high wind load it’s required to meet.

“The only solution at the site is to completely dismantle and remove the existing structure and replace it with a new structure engineered to meet your 120 miles per hour wind load, using the existing footer and foundation,” the inspection report reads in part.

It’s not yet clear how the company will proceed.

In other business Monday, selectmen awarded a bid for the management of the Community Development Block Grants to Bailey Boyd Associates. The grants are federal funds which meet child care and housing rehabilitation needs in the community.

Bailey Boyd’s fees, which come to about $82,000 including contingency money, are paid out of the grant. The firm has administered the grants for many years.