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Des Moines County to upgrade outdoor-siren controllers as part of public-safety system migration
Summary
The board approved spending county rural-basic funds to replace end-of-life outdoor warning siren controllers and begin migrating the county’s sirens from a legacy VHF system to the Essex public-safety network; staff said the sirens themselves remain functional and the purchase covers controllers only.
Des Moines County supervisors approved the next step in a countywide migration of outdoor warning siren controllers to a modern public-safety communications system.
Emergency management staff told the board the county’s VHF-based siren controller system is at end of life and technicians have responded to repeated monthly failures over the last six months. The requested purchase covers the controller upgrades only; the siren housings and horns will remain in place and will continue to be used where they still operate. Shannon Brago, emergency management, said the work is necessary to keep the county’s outdoor warning system reliably connected to first responders.
County staff said the expense will come from rural-basic funds so city residents are not taxed twice for the upgrade. Board members approved the mitigation and controller purchase to move the county toward Essex-based integration for first-responder communications.
Board discussion noted that municipalities typically own their own sirens and will separately decide when to migrate their equipment. Emergency management staff reiterated that Smart911/Alert Iowa is the most reliable way to reach individuals indoors and encouraged residents to register for the system in addition to maintaining outdoor sirens.
