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Harmon resident asks Lee County for help automating tornado siren after fire department merger
Summary
A Harmon official told the committee the local tornado siren is manually operated; Amboy Fire Department can enable remote activation but installation would cost about $1,000, and local officials are considering whether the village, township or county should pay.
Melanie Wilstead, an incoming city clerk for the village of Harmon, told the County Services Committee that the village's tornado warning siren is currently on a manual switch and Amboy Fire Department can enable remote activation for an estimated one-time installation fee of about $1,000.
Wilstead said the Harmon Fire Department merged into the Amboy Fire Department as of Jan. 1 and that the Amboy department—now covering Harmon as “Amboy 2”—has offered to remotely activate Harmon’s tornado siren once the village installs a control box. She said the fire chief did not have a precise cost and planned to present more information at the village meeting the following evening.
Wilstead asked the county what funding options were available—village, township or county—to pay for the installation. Committee members confirmed the cost appeared to be a one-time installation fee rather than an ongoing subscription, but the meeting record shows no county decision or commitment to fund the work. A committee member said, based on a brief pre-meeting conversation with Wilstead, he expected any future maintenance responsibility to shift to the reconfigured fire district.
No formal action was recorded. Wilstead was invited to attend the village meeting where the Amboy fire chief is to appear and present details to village and township officials.
