White County is getting some additional outdoor warning sirens. This week, the White County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of three additional warning sirens.
White County Public Safety Director David Murphy told the commissioners that these new sirens will be located at Yonah Preserve, Skylake Community, and White County High School. Murphy noted that there is currently an alert siren located just south of the high school, but since the school campus has grown over the years, they need the new siren to cover the campus completely.
Murphy talked about the funding for this project: “So that’s just part of an overall plan, and we typically don’t fund these unless we get a hazard mitigation grant, and these came from a grant that was applied for about four years ago,” said Murphy.
The county will receive $78,000 in federal funds, with the county to provide $8,698 in local SPLOST funds. In the overall plan for outdoor sirens, Murphy said they have three more, and they will seek funding to be placed in key areas around the county.
The commissioners also approved $2,615 in SPLOST funding for the purchase of 1,000 weather alert radios that will be distributed to White County residents. Director Murphy said they want to primarily distribute these radios to the elderly population, but any resident of the county would be eligible to receive one.
These may be the last major SPLOST purchases the county commission makes for a while. During Monday night’s meeting on March 31, commissioners discussed a possible moratorium on new spending until current economic conditions stabilize.
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