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Germantown board refers weather-siren options to Public Safety after residents urge keeping alerts
Summary
The Village Board voted to send consideration of continuing and updating outdoor tornado sirens — and short-term fixes to ensure coverage — to its Public Safety Committee after residents and trustees argued some residents still rely on sirens.
The Village of Germantown Village Board voted to send consideration of short- and long-term options for outdoor weather sirens to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion and possible action.
The decision followed public comments and a lengthy agenda discussion in which residents and trustees urged the village to maintain some form of outdoor warning. Resident Melanie Smythe said a Mayville tornado showed delays in alerts and that "until there is an actual proper replacement program for the sirens, I think they should be kept working." Resident Scott, W159 N10514 Old Farm Road, told the board that some long-time residents lack cellphones and said, "If it's not a lot of money to do, I think we owe it to them."
The police chief presented a short-term plan the department recommended to cover a service gap caused by a second-shift dispatch consolidation to the Washington County Sheriff. The short-term options described were: paying roughly $2,500 for yearly maintenance on the existing sirens; installing remote access software (virtual network computing or remote desktop) to allow activation from a laptop; or relocating the siren control "brains" to the fire station at an estimated $2,180 and placing the activation computer there because the fire station is staffed 24/7. The chief said the village has 15 sirens and that batteries are replaced in alternating years with half due in 2026 and the other half in 2027.
Trustees expressed differing views on the long-term need for sirens. Trustee Kaminski and others emphasized that some residents sleep without phones and rely on sirens at night; Trustee Rick Miller said sirens are outdoor-rated and not reliable for indoor warning but supported a secure station-based control. Trustees agreed the matter needs further vetting and voted to refer the item to Public Safety. The board also heard about a potential FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant the village might pursue for upgrades.
The discussion highlighted several open questions Public Safety is expected to address: the full costs to replace or modernize all sirens (estimates given ranged from a low-end $5,000 per unit to $23,000 per unit to fully replace older equipment), the scope and cost of decommissioning if the village moves to county-led cellphone alerting, whether the county's reverse 911 or Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) provide effective coverage for residents who do not opt in, and options for providing radios or other devices to residents without cellphones.
The board's referral does not approve equipment purchases; it sends staff and committee members back to compile vendor quotes, clarify ongoing maintenance costs, pursue grant eligibility, and recommend a short-term stopgap and a longer-term mass-notification strategy. The village president said staff may proceed with short-term solutions if the expenses fall within staff spending limits.
A public-safety committee review and subsequent board action are expected before any purchase or long-term decommissioning decision is made.
