BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Stoddard County Emergency Management Agency Director Kent Polsgrove presented the County Commission with a report on guidelines for activating outdoor emergency sirens throughout the county at its regular meeting Monday at the Government Building. The commission also discussed some issues surrounding the retirement pay for two part-time employees and an approaching decision by the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland on the fate of the Service Center in Dexter.
Polsgrove opened the meeting by explaining current County EMA policy concerning activation of the county siren system. The system can be activated throughout the county at one time or by individual community. He said the county does not have the capability of activating the sirens by geographical area. The current policy provides that the sirens can be activated for two reasons. The first is for a tornado. Sirens are activated when a tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service or when a funnel cloud is reported by a trained weather watcher (i.e. trained storm spotter, law enforcement, fire department official or EMA volunteer). The sirens can also be activated during a severe thunderstorm when the National Weather Service has issued a warning or wind speeds reach 65 miles per hour.
The issue has drawn more interest since a tornado touched down in the northwest part of the county two weeks ago. The sirens were not activated prior to the tornado. Polsgrove said there was no tornado warning issued and no calls came in from spotters. He did say as soon as the EMA office had reports of damage, they activated the sirens in Advance, which was in the path of the storm. He also pointed out that no storms were reported in Wayne or Butler Counties so there was no advance notice.
Polsgrove said he had contacted all the cities and submitted a questionnaire to them. He said responses from Dudley, Essex and Puxico indicated they wanted to do away with the Section 1B calling for sirens to be sounded when a funnel cloud is reported. He said Bernie wanted the provision left in the policy. He said Advance first indicated they wanted to do away with Section 1B and then changed their position. He said he had not heard back from Bloomfield. Dexter has its own emergency siren system.
Polsgrove said his intent was to "be consistent" throughout the county. He said the policy needed to be put before the public to better educate them.
Polsgrove said there have always been some problems with the way the sirens are activated. The siren system is "piggy-backed" with the radios in the County Sheriff's department. He said it only takes about three minutes to activate the whole system. The problem arises when communities are activated individually. It can take up to 15 minutes, which disrupts radio service for county law enforcement.
Polsgrove said Dexter Police Chief Don Seymore also had concerns about overuse of the siren system, which can lead to apathy on the part of the public.
"I agree," said Polsgrove. "The system should only be activated when there is a serious threat to public safety."
Commissioner Frank Sifford said he thought 60 mph winds would cause the sirens to be activated. Polsgrove said that applied to severe thunderstorms and that the various communities differed on what wind speeds should be reached before activation. He said some wanted 65 mph and some wanted 70 mph.
"I think consistency is the key," said Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis.
Polsgrove said he would continue to review the responses and make a recommendation about a policy at the March 26 commission meeting.
Mathis reported to the commission that a committee with the Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland was reevaluating properties owned by the group. He said he expected the committee to recommend closing the facility at Dexter or Cape Girardeau. He said he was not sure whether they rented or owned a facility in Cape. Mathis said the CEO of the Girls Scouts of the Heartland had resigned.
Mathis noted the Dexter Center employs seven people. He said the building was a result of a lot of community involvement. He said $350,000 was raised by the community: $125,000 came in the form of a grant from Economic Development, and The Regional Healthcare Foundation had donated the land for the site of the building.
"I don't want to see it leave," said Mathis.
Commissioner Carol Jarrell expressed her concern as well. She said the center in Dexter was a big asset for the community.
Virginia DeGroot with the County Clerk's office reported that the county had run into some problems with paying into the County Employees Retirement Fund (CERF) for two-part time employees. The county had overlooked adding the employees to CERF after they became qualified, and wanted to pay into the account retroactively.
Sifford said there was a provision for paying into the account retroactively, but it could only be done once and at a specified date.
DeGroot said CERF required the money to be withheld from the employees' wages, and there was no provision for the county to pay the employees' contribution.
"I feel like we should pay," said Sifford.
After some discussion, the commission agreed that the county could pay the employee's contribution to CERF and also make the retroactive contribution.