Lack of grant funding for sirens puts onus on Holmes County

An unsuccessful attempt to capture federal grant funding has led to serious county discussion as to what should now take place in the project of fixing several struggling tornado warning sirens throughout Holmes County.

Jason Troyer, Holmes County Emergency Management Agency director, met with the Holmes County commissioners on Monday, July 15 to discuss the implications of not being able to secure grant funding to support the project.

The sirens in question are located in Holmesville, Killbuck and Glenmont, with the potential grants coming through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities support grants.

“I was asked if we would want to reapply again next year through BRIC,” Troyer said. “If we do want it as a source of funding, we would have to wait a year for that.”

Waiting an entire year was not an option the commissioners felt was a good route to take.

“These sirens are important,” commissioner Joe Miller said. “That’s a long time to wait.”

Thus, the two entities began discussion on how the county could commit the funds necessary to do the work needed to bring the sirens to life.

Troyer said each tower would cost approximately $28,000 apiece, with an expected life cycle for each between 20-25 years.

Troyer said additional sirens in Walnut Creek, Farmerstown and the siren located near Township Road 605 near Fryburg also need updates, something he said is routine as the sirens age.

He said the county also is seeking to install a new siren along Wally Road, where camping and travel among tourists is quite heavy.

Commissioner Dave Hall said the next step will be assessing the cost involved and figuring out the best way to get the sirens operating correctly as soon as possible.

Hall said more than two decades ago the county dove into creating the siren program.

“We did a wave of (siren towers) and partnered with the townships,” Hall said.

Troyer said the issue at hand is that wave is now coming back around, all at the same time.

Troyer did say that aside from a new siren tower on Wally Road, the county would be looking at replacing just the sirens, with no new tower construction needed.

The discussion centered around how the county and townships could pool their resources to financially support each project.

“You need to get a financial number related to each tower and get back to us,” Hall said to Troyer.

Hall said the siren towers are a big enough priority that the county and townships need to figure out quickly a way to fund the project because providing warnings, especially during tornado season, is critical to each community.