Emergency Management Committee discusses outdoor siren repeater repairs

By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1

Before the full meeting on the Barren County Fiscal Court on Monday, Jan. 22, the Emergency Management Planning and Solid Waste Committee gathered in the small conference room beside the court chambers to discuss among other things the outdoor warning siren repeater repairs and 2024 objectives.

The roughly 30 minute meeting was called to order by committee chairman Ronnie Stinson, magistrate for Barren County District 6, at 9 a.m. Among those present included District 3 Magistrate Tim Durham, Emergency Management Director Garland Gilliam, Deputy Director Marcus Thurman, Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd and non-committee member Magistrate Marty Kinslow.

Discussion of the outdoor warning siren repeater was led by Gilliam who attempted to explain the problem with the sirens that occurred at the end of last year.

“We had the Christmas Parade on Saturday and our tornado sirens and everything tested fine,” Gilliam said. “The next Saturday when we had the bad weather, and had a tornado actually in Todd County, we went to activate the sirens and they would not work.”

He said the repeater — an electronic device in a communication channel that increases the power of a signal and retransmits it — that was placed on top of T. J. Community Hospital went down, which prevented the sirens in Cave City and Park City from receiving the signal from Glasgow.

Gilliam and Thurman had to drive to Cave City, Park City and Hiseville to get in range of the sirens and set them off from their trucks.

“The next Monday we were trying to figure all that out and the repeater was shot,” Gilliam said. “I think it had a power surge because I heard that T.J earlier that week had lost power for 20 minutes. Either way, that repeater is dead so we need to buy one.”

He relayed two options for the committee to consider. Either they need to purchase a new repeater or a used one. Gilliam said a new one would likely be around $7,000 while a used one would only be in the $1,900 range.

He also added a new one would have the lag time of a few weeks while it is on order while a used one would offer “an immediate turnaround.”

The decision was made easier, for both Gilliam and Stinson, by conversations with the City of Glasgow to purchase a second repeater.

“The city is willing to buy a second repeater to put at Glasgow Fire Department Station 2 as a backup so if this one goes down we can drive to the firehouse [and] flip a switch,” Gilliam said. “Knowing that we’re going to have a redundant backup I am comfortable and confident buying the used one and not spending the $7,000.”

April Russell, Glasgow’s city administrator, confirmed the conversation between the city and county took place, but said the conversations were ongoing. No action was taken by the committee.