August 24, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
This is a test!
The City of Smithville will be conducting a test Wednesday, August 26 at 12 noon to determine if the old manually operated siren on top of the city hall building still works. In years gone by the siren was sounded like clockwork at 12 noon on weekdays in what became a community tradition. It was also used for other purposes.
Plans are to upgrade and reactivate the siren to make it part of the city’s new outdoor tornado alert system which will be launched this fall.
When all is said and done, the city will have a total of three tornado alert sirens, two of which will be mounted on 50 foot poles at city owned property on West Broad Street near the water tower close to DeKalb County High School and near the water tower on Miller Road. The city hall siren will serve as the third location.
The Smithville aldermen recently awarded a bid to Capitol Electronics for a Federal Signal system. The cost is $71,497. One time state grant funds coming to city will cover the purchase. The city has ordered the equipment and it should arrive within the next 4-6 weeks. Installation will beqin soon after probably in October. Further tests of the system will be conducted once its installed.