EMA seeks competitive bids after $34,000 service quote for county siren maintenance
Summary
The county’s Emergency Management Agency reported two nonfunctional tornado sirens after reprogramming tests and shared a proposed multi‑year service contract quoted at roughly $34,000 for three years covering 17 sirens. EMA will solicit other quotes and return with comparisons.
Mike Snyder, director of the county Emergency Management Agency, told commissioners on Nov. 3 that tower work and reprogramming on the county tornado sirens are complete but testing revealed two nonfunctional units.
The vendor that performed reprogramming quoted a proposed service contract covering the county’s siren network for about $34,000 (a three‑year package the presenter said boiled down to roughly $12,000 per year or about $2,000 per siren for the contract period). Snyder said the county’s previous annual contract was about $2,200 and he found the new quote “a bit high.”
Snyder reported he has started contacting EMA directors in neighboring counties to gather competitive bids and vendor recommendations. He said the proposed agreement might include upgrades to get all sirens onto a common operating system used by the National Guard. Two siren repairs quoted separately included a $1,500 driver repair and a battery replacement estimate.
Commissioners asked for additional vendor quotes and an explanation of the price increase before committing to a multi‑year contract. Snyder said he expects to have more quotes in time for the next meeting and will follow up with the board.
