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County investigates intermittent outdoor-siren failure; technicians estimate receiver upgrades at roughly $4,700 per site
Summary
County staff told the board that intermittent microwave-link failures between a Dane Street tower and DESCOM caused the recent outdoor warning siren problem; technicians say replacing receivers at each siren would cost about $4,700 per location (about $75,000 countywide) or migrating to the statewide system is an alternative.
Residents and supervisors pressed county staff April 21 for details after a recent outdoor warning-siren failure during a storm. County technical staff and emergency-management personnel explained investigators were troubleshooting an intermittent microwave link between a county tower on Dane Street and DESCOM that transmits the siren activation signal.
Officials said technicians could duplicate the failure in testing and that, in the interim, some activations had to be performed manually. "We don't know exactly, to be quite honest," a county technical official said, describing the troubleshooting steps. Staff said one long-term fix is to replace the receiving equipment at each siren location and that the county's estimate for that option is about $4,700 per siren. With roughly 15 county sirens, staff estimated a county-wide cost in the neighborhood of $75,000; officials said individual entities would need to approve funding for receivers within their jurisdictions.
Staff also described a redundancy workaround (separate radio links) while longer-term options are investigated, and they said migrating to the state ISICS (state interoperability system) would be the most comprehensive long-term approach but carries higher upfront cost. County staff urged residents to enable smartphone emergency alerts as an interim step while fixes are pursued.
The board did not adopt a funding decision at the meeting; staff said they will continue troubleshooting and present options and cost estimates to local entities for approval.
