Haley Swaino
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Boone County Commission approved the location of three new tornado sirens on Tuesday.
One across the street from 9415 N. Brown Station Road near Spiva Crossing Road, one at 2180 Fenton Road and another at 7060 Kircher Road.
Of the 10 tornado sirens looking to be placed across Boone County, four were under consideration for a final vote Tuesday.
The fourth proposed location was 4620 Roemer Road. In a two-to-one vote Tuesday, the commission voted to not move forward with that specific location. The proposal had faced pushback from residents, which included threats of filing class-action lawsuits against the county.
After the Boone County Office of Emergency Management conducted a review of current outdoor warning siren coverage using the 2020 U.S. Census overlay, it identified several coverage gap areas.
OEM proposed locations for new sirens based on accessibility, infrastructure availability, optimal coverage, elevation and future growth.
“This siren will provide essential coverage to Roemer Road as well as the currently unserved areas ofCreasy Springs Road and Obermiller Road,” a staff report for the County Commission states. “Approval of this location will eliminate a known outdoor alerting deficiency and enhance emergency preparedness for residents in all three areas.”
Many residents from the Roemer Road area voiced concerns against the siren at a public hearing on April 29. Among them was Patricia Crane who has lived on Roemer Road for nearly 12 years. She was also at Tuesday’s commission meeting and said tensions were high at both.
“We were determined that we were not going to have that siren there,” Crane said. “We can already hear the sirens. We didn’t need it.”
More than a dozen residents sat together during Tuesday’s vote, prepared to push back on what they felt was a threat to their community.
“Having a siren 150 feet from your front door is not something that’s very desirable,” Crane said. “Especially if it’s a medical facility or if you have patients that are in trouble, are dying, or you have people that are subject to migraines and other health problems. Having a siren that close can produce acoustic shock and it can promote a lot of health problems.”
Crane said she made such an effort to rally behind her neighbors against a siren because the community is like a family to her. She had only been living on Roemer Road for six months when her house burnt down in 2013.
“The neighbors immediately took up a collection and gave us $1,000 cash to tie us over until we got our insurance payment,” Crane said. “That’s the kind of people who live on Roemer Road.”
Crane also voiced her concerns to the commission Tuesday during public comment and said FEMA has guidelines against placing sirens in neighborhoods with low ambient noise.
“Roemer Road’s about as quiet as you can get,” Crane said.
She said she and her neighbors left feeling grateful that their efforts paid off and the commission ultimately decided to explore other options.
“I think there’s alternatives that they can find if they’ll just look,” Crane said. “And I’m very relieved and very happy for our community that we don’t have that to face now.”
Before the commission voted on the Roemer Road siren placement, Southern District Commissioner Justin Aldred said he planned to vote against it, while Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson said she would vote in favor.
Aldred read an email before the commission Tuesday that was sent by a Roemer Road resident.
“I’d rather take my chances being sucked up by a tornado than to be subject to more of these unsightly, obtrusive, outdated and unwanted sirens,” Aldred read from the email.
Some residents nodded as he read the email.
“My conclusion from this is that the neighborhood will never be convinced this is a benefit,” Aldred said.
Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick voted to deny the Roemer Road siren placement. He said both public safety and the ability to petition your government are important.
“Any time you’re in a decision making process you have to think about what’s good, you have to take concerns under consideration,” Kendrick said. “You also have to look at what’s in the best interest of the county as a whole. In this case, knowing that we can, that we have the ability, we have some flexibility to go back and try to find alternative placements to meet those needs. I felt like that was enough of the public safety coverage that we need to make sure that we’re going to provide tornado siren coverage while also listening to the concerns of the neighbors.”
Office of Emergency Management Director Chris Kelley talked about the tornado that hit the county on April 20.
“Much like Easter Sunday, there were two tornado warnings issued, one at 5:21 and one at 5:26 [according to] the Saint Louis National Weather Service,” Kelley said. “And that polygon changed, the storm was showing rotation as it was moving north. With the new technology, as those polygons for the warned areas move, based on the issuance by the Weather Service, those sirens will sound only within that one area.”
Kelley said these new sirens will sound more efficiently based upon the direction rotations are making and keep Boone County residents better informed during severe weather.
“Our siren system is is robust in Boone County,” Kendrick said. “We are proud of emergency management’s work to always find ways to continue to improve the system.”
Kelley said the approved sirens are expected to be installed in May and OEM will announce when the work is completed.
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