City To Buy Two New Sirens

By Gordon HopkinsThe evening of Tuesday, October 19, the Fairbury City Council voted to approve the purchase of two new emergency alert sirens.Fairbury has a number of outdoor warning sirens throughout the city to warn members of the public who may be outdoors during potentially dangerous weather, such as tornadoes, or other emergencies. Not all of those sirens are currently operational and others require either significant maintenance or to be replaced. There are two sirens not in working order at all. There are other sirens within city limits that will be reaching their life expectancy soon as well.The issue became a contentious one since the possibility of eliminating the sirens altogether was raised during previous City Council meetings this year. An alternative is to have residents sign up for an alert system that contacts residents via phone when there is an emergency. Jefferson County currently uses a company called Alertsense to issue mass alerts via email and phone for emergencies.If Fairbury did move to an alert system, it would not be the first City in Jefferson County to do so. Endicott currently uses an alert system.The Fairbury Fire Department Chief, Kenny Krause, spoke at the council meeting on September 7, 2021, and voiced his support for keeping the sirens. At that same meeting, Jean Kuzon, a citizen, presented a petition with signatures from 29 residents who also supported continued use of sirens.Therefore, it was decided to purchase two new sirens to replace the one not currently functioning.In a memo to Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown and the City Council, City Administrator Robert Messbarger wrote, “I have worked with John McKee, Jefferson County Emergency Manager, and Bruce Fisher, a representative from Blue Valley Public Safety, to pursue the option of replacing the sirens. An updated site survey was completed and two sirens were recommended to fill the existing gaps in coverage. Blue Valley Public Safety provided a quote of $33,630.84 for two new sirens and the associated equipment. The quote accounts for City Staff installing the pole and equipment to save costs. Blue Valley would conduct a final installation test to ensure everything is correct. The two new proposed sirens are Federal Signal Model 2001-130 sirens. These were determined to best fit the needs of the City. There are other siren manufacturers but their sirens would not work well with the sirens the City currently has. The proposed sirens produce 130 dB (decibels) and have a range of 6,500 feet at 70 dB.”Messbarger noted, “Blue Valley Public Safety is the sole source provider of Federal Signal sirens in our area. If the City decides to move forward with this purchase, the order needs to be placed by December to ensure installation prior to the 2022 storm season.”Regarding funding, Messbarger wrote, “During the 2019 and 2020 Fiscal Years, a total of $60,000 was allocated in the City’s budget for purchase of new sirens. These funds were not used. Although there is not a specific allocation for sirens in our current year’s budget, staff believes the City can absorb this cost without negatively affecting any other fund.”At the meeting, Councilperson Kelly Davis said, “This is quite a bit cheaper what John (McKee) originally thought they would cost us.”“Part of the price reduction is that the city, our line departments, are going to be installing the poles,” Messbarger explained. “They’re (Blue valley) still going to come down, test insulation, check it out, make sure it’s all good. That way the warranty is still valid, but we’re going to be doing the installation.”All but one of the City Council voted to approve the purchase. Doug brown voted “no.”A number of individuals complained in the past on social media that they can not hear the sirens inside their homes. Messbarger pointed out in his memo, “These sirens are not designed or meant to be heard indoors.”

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