John Clouse, deputy director of Daviess County Emergency Management, told board members the current siren software needs replacing because it is no longer being supported by the vendor.
"There are no further upgrades from the company" to patch problems with the software, Clouse said. Because of that, three sirens in the county have had software failures, making them no longer able to "communicate," and inform officials as to whether or not they are working.
Paul Nave, the 911 director, said the three sirens still sound, but they don't respond when dispatch tests the sirens twice weekly to make sure they are operating.
The cost of the software upgrade would be split between the city and county, but would have to be included in next year's city and county budgets.
Clouse said county Judge-Executive Al Mattingly "will not approve the county to purchase (the software) if the city does not approve it at the same time." County officials, Clouse said, want to be sure the city and county are on the same siren system.
The 911 board cannot approve the upgrade because the funding won't come out of the 911 center's budget. Clouse asked the board members to recommend the upgrade to city commissioners.
"We'll have to do something," Clouse said, when asked what the options were. "We can get by for a time. I don't know what that time is. We have three sirens now that no longer report back to us. The software has failed."
The software upgrade would cost the city $19,963 and the county $16,489, based on a bid received in 2017. In addition to replacing the unsupported software, the new software would allow storm sirens to activate automatically whenever the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning, Clouse said.
The warning area could be targeted, so only sirens in the area of the county affected by the warning would sound, Clouse said. Also, the sirens could be activated by officials from their cell phones, he said.
"Right now, I have to be sitting in my office, or someone (has to be) sitting in the dispatch center" to start the sirens, Clouse said.
Board members decided to table the issue until their next meeting in November, closer to when city and county officials will begin considering their budgets for the next fiscal year.
After the meeting, Nave said officials have regular schedules to replace parts on weather sirens to make sure they are operational.
"We are always being proactive with our weather sirens," Nave said. "We know how crucial it is for people to be notified of a tornado."
James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse
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