Ward 3 resident Bill Daniel says he hasn’t heard the wail of his neighborhood’s tornado siren in a long time.
It’s not that Daniel is hard of hearing — the siren, located on Country Club Road in front of his house, fails to sound its warning during adverse weather situations and monthly testing procedures, Daniel said.
He first alerted his alderman, David Little, of the problem in April 2014, but Daniel said the siren still has issues.
“For a long time on Friday afternoons at 2:30 p.m., it would make a sound. It’s not a warning sound, but it’s like it was making that last revolution and winding down. That tells me something’s malfunctioning,” said Daniel, who worked as a senior information technology director with AT&T.
The County Club Road siren, dubbed a “primary offender” Tuesday by Chief Administrative Officer Taylor Adams, is one of “a few” units under review by the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency, said incoming director Shank Phelps.
OCEMA’s system, which Phelps said services the area with about 20 sirens, for the most part works effectively in the city, Adams told aldermen; however, the Country Club Road unit, a new siren funded by a federal grant and installed in the last 18 months, can’t seem to reach a dependable status despite numerous maintenance visits by its supplier, Precision Communications Inc., which cost the city per instance.
That specific siren services numerous subdivisions and neighborhoods along South Montgomery Street, including Country Club Estates and south Greenbriar.
Compounding the problem, Adams said, is the city’s failure to receive error messages from the unit, via OCEMA, during monthly tests. If a unit fails to send a malfunction notice or improperly states its functionality, then both OCEMA and Starkville are both in the dark about the status of the sirens.
“Some of the things we may not have done a good job on the front end (when the city installed new sirens was having) a system in place to identify when error messages were being kicked back from sirens in test cycles to the controller at (OCEMA) and basically setting up a communication network with our office so we could make sure everything is operational,” Adams said. “The (overall) system does work, but some of our sirens have age on them. We’re working with (the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District) to continue to search for funds to purchase a new round of sirens. We’ll be doing a much more thorough job … of ensuring we’re getting error messages, as related to the system, to the right folks.”
Phelps said he is working to ensure all Oktibbeha tornado warning sirens are working properly and will, if needed, send workers to each unit in the city and outlying county to confirm their functionality during tests.
“Our responsibility is to set them off. We’re going to make it right and make sure the proper information is relayed to the city,” he said.
Little, who asked for the report, said he wants fellow aldermen to consider developing a new line item in the city’s budget for future maintenance efforts.
Precision Communications has quoted the city multiple maintenance options, and those documents will be presented to the board in time for the city’s upcoming budgeting exercises, Adams said.
A contract could become an estimated $18,000-$20,000 line item and cover additional work, he said, including checking and replacing failsafe batteries located on newer units.
Once error messages properly flow to the city officials, Adams said the Starkville will attempt to handle most of the maintenance itself and call Precision Communications for on-site work “only when it’s necessary.”
“We’ll quickly know if we’re not capable of fixing an issue,” Adams said. “We’re definitely appreciative of the work Shank is doing to help us remedy the situation.
Even with the internal option, Little said he favors routine maintenance by the equipment’s provider.
“I deal with catastrophes in my job. I know firsthand the damage and devastation a tornado can cause,” Little, who works in the insurance industry, said Wednesday. “Sirens can malfunction and not sound; batteries can corrode and not provide power. If (regular maintenance) can spare one life, then $18,000 is worth it.”
Phelps, a county constable, was picked by supervisors last month to succeed outgoing OCEMA Director Jim Britt, who will conclude a 15-year stint as emergency director when he retires at the end of the month.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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