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La Porte County approves small pilot to boost Rave outreach and buy weather radios as siren overhaul looms
Summary
Facing aging outdoor sirens and rising maintenance costs, the county approved two $2,000 budget lines to fund public outreach for Rave alerts and a small pilot to distribute NOAA weather radios to vulnerable residents, while officials said a full siren replacement could cost millions.
La Porte County commissioners directed staff on Wednesday to add two $2,000 line items — one for advertising to promote the county’s Rave emergency-alert system and one to pilot distribution of NOAA weather radios to residents most likely to miss outdoor alerts.
The discussion began when the county’s emergency management representative (S7) told the council that many of the county’s outdoor warning sirens are outdated and failing. The official said the county has also been promoting Rave and Smart911 and that “it is on the county website that there's a link on the main page” to sign up for those alerts.
Commissioners pressed whether to invest in repairing and modernizing the sirens or pivot toward digital alerts and targeted devices. S7 said bringing every siren up to modern standards could run “probably 2 to $2,500,000,” and called for a phased public-engagement plan that would tell residents not to rely solely on sirens.
To give residents more options while the county studies a larger capital project, Commissioner S3 proposed two small, targeted expenditures: $2,000 to fund advertising and outreach about Rave and Smart911 and $2,000 to start a pilot program buying weather radios for residents who have limited ability to receive phone-based alerts. The council approved a motion to add those two accounts and fund them at $2,000 each.
S7 described the rationale: many residents outside towns are not served well by the siren network, and a combination of improved outreach and a small radio pilot would help reach people who are most likely to be missed by a siren-only approach. The emergency-management office also noted it had recently applied for a United Way grant for weather radios.
The vote was recorded as approving the EMA fund changes with one recorded nay on a broader package earlier in the meeting; the weather-radio and advertising pilot lines were added as discrete accounts to the EMA budget. Officials said the pilot will be used to identify whether a larger, subsidized distribution or other community measures are needed.
Next steps: EMA was asked to return with a phased plan that (1) documents legal or federal requirements about outdoor warning systems if the county elects to retire or phase out sirens, (2) reports results from the weather-radio pilot, and (3) outlines an outreach program and likely costs to expand Rave sign-up countywide.
The council’s action adds a modest, time-limited outreach and pilot allocation while keeping the door open to a larger capital discussion about siren replacement and broader public-safety communications.
