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Residents raise concerns after intermittent warning‑siren failures; sheriff outlines $75,000 countywide upgrade estimate
Summary
A resident asked about recent outdoor warning-siren failures; Sheriff Kevin Glenni said technicians are troubleshooting an intermittent microwave link and that replacing receivers to move to the ES6 system would cost roughly $4,700 per siren (about $75,000 countywide).
During public input, a resident asked county officials to explain what went wrong with outdoor warning sirens after a recent storm test. Sheriff Kevin Glenni described ongoing troubleshooting and a possible long‑term solution.
Glenni said consultants and electronics technicians have examined the system and that intermittent failure appears linked to a microwave link between a Dane Street tower and DeskCom; one siren location had to be set off manually during a recent test. He explained the county historically used VHF receivers for sirens while law enforcement moved to a statewide ES6 radio system. Replacing the siren receivers to the ES6 standard, Glenni said, would cost roughly $4,700 per siren location; with approximately 15 sirens in the county that totals about $75,000.
Officials said technicians were working on a redundancy workaround to allow alternate transmission paths if the microwave link fails, and that county leadership would pursue options as funding allows.
Why it matters: Reliable outdoor‑warning sirens are one component of local emergency communications for severe weather and other public‑safety incidents. County officials said they are actively troubleshooting and considering long‑term upgrades.
What happens next: Technical teams will continue diagnostics and implement short‑term redundancy options; any decision to replace receivers and adopt an ES6 siren receiver would require funding commitments from involved entities.
