News

STAR CITY TO LOOK AT SECOND STORM WARNING SIREN

By John Whipple/LINCOLN COUNTY CORRESPONDENT
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:37 PM CST

STAR CITY — Star City Mayor Gene Yarbrough and the city council on Monday discussed adding a second storm warning siren for the town next spring.

The city recently installed a new siren that is mounted on top of a 60-foot wooden pole in front of the Civic Center. The city bought the siren last May from American Signal for $16,500.

Yarbrough said he wanted to thank C&L Electric for donating skilled labor to install the siren.

“It sounds good and it looks good,” the mayor said.

However, Yarbrough said some citizens are having problems hearing the siren on the north side of town.

“You can’t hear it at my house unless you’re outdoors,” said Councilman Kelley Goins, who lives on the north side of town. Goins added that the siren couldn’t be heard at C&L headquarters.

“You can’t hear it at my house either,” said Councilman Pete Kiefhaber who lives on the south end of the city. “It goes right over the top. You can hear it, but it wouldn’t wake you up at night.”

Councilman David McCoy said the siren should be easier to hear at night in the absence of traffic noises.

McCoy said he talked to a spokesman from American Signal who reminded McCoy that the original recommendation from the company was to install three sirens, one in the middle of town, one at the north end, and one at the south side near Cane Creek State Park.

McCoy said the city could buy another siren from American Signal for about $14,200 since they don’t need another control unit.

“That’s not bad at all,” said Yarbrough.

Goins said the city could actually use two sirens at the south end of town, for the west and east sides of the city.

Kiefhaber said it would depend on where the siren was placed.

McCoy repeated that the city should consider buying another unit in the spring.

Switching topics, Kiefhaber asked where the city stood in its bid to buy the long-vacant building at the corner of South Drew and West Bradley streets that it plans to use as a new police station and possibly offices for other law enforcement agencies.

The council last month voted to offer owner Gary Holsted of Star City $69,500 for the building, which Yarbrough said was recently appraised at $93,400. The council had also voted to seek short-term financing from local banks and to borrow from the bank that offers the lowest interest rate.

City Attorney Phillip Green told Kiefhaber that Simmons Bank offered the lowest rate to finance the transaction.

Green said the city “was just waiting on Simmons to get the paperwork to us.”

Green said the deal should be closed in a week or two.

In another matter, the council voted unanimously to grant Christmas bonuses, which include a $50 minimum bonus plus $5 for each year of employment to all city employees.

The mayor also reported that city workers began repairing a large hole on Pine Street near Steed Lake that opened from recent heavy rains.

“I guarantee that you could have walked under it, or stood up in it,” said Yarbrough. “There was nothing but asphalt. All that water had undermined it. That was spooky.”

Print this story   |   Email this story