Community member Pam Kurtz was on the Eureka City Council agenda for Monday, April 23 to discuss the storm siren at Eureka Lake. Kurtz read a statement covering her research into storm sirens, which was prompted after the Eureka Lake siren failed to sound during a recent storm.
While holding the floor, Kurtz shared that city officials had not been notified that their siren at Eureka Lake was not working, and had failed to sound during the April 16 storm. The City of Eureka has five sirens, four of which are located within the city limits and one stationed at the lake. Kurtz noted that storm siren testing in Greenwood County is conducted Monday evenings at 6 p.m. from March through October.
She explained that there is no federal or state mandate requiring cities to have storm sirens. Within additional information Kurtz shared for public knowledge, she noted that sirens are a benefit the city provides for community safety and these should not be relied upon as an individual’s/household’s only mode of emergency notification. She later added that storm sirens are intended to alert those who are outdoors of the need to seek shelter. She also noted within her statement that sirens can fail. Kurtz shared that while she was looking into the issue, it had been relayed to her that initial notice of the nonfunctioning siren had been provided by one entity to the next, but had not continued along the proper channels to have this addressed. After expressing concerns in regards to lack of follow-up, Kurtz advised city officials that she was told siren repair would be something scheduled through the City Administrator’s Office. Kurtz reported that she had been notified that the city had quickly taken action and the siren had been repaired on Friday, April 19. In continued discussion of the subject, Kurtz encouraged that policies be considered, not just by the city, but asked that this be coordinated with other pertinent entities including Greenwood County Emergency Management and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office, to avoid something like this happening in the future. Kurtz asked for officials to share their thoughts as she concluded her statement.
Mayor Stephen Coulter responded by stating that he believed there will be some procedural changes in the future and explained that, as soon as they were made aware of the issue, the city had worked quickly to get the siren operational again. Coulter explained that some communication had been lost with staff leaving the city and not passing knowledge along. He shared that batteries in the siren were corroded and have now been replaced.
The siren at Eureka Lake was noted as being 12 years old. While this is older than the ones in town, as multiple were replaced through a grant, this unit is much newer than those which were previously replaced. City Administrator Joel Laws reiterated that the city was quick to take action when he became aware of the issue. He noted that city staff had conducted battery replacement in strong winds blowing corrosion debris.
Greenwood County Emergency Management Director Levi Vinson reported that he began testing sirens March 6 to coincide with the state-wide tornado drill. Vinson noted that sirens are not activated for testing during overcast conditions or when severe weather is forecasted, and this had applied to multiple Mondays that followed. When the siren did not sound on March 6, notice was given by Emergency Management. ( Note: Storm sirens are owned by municipalities and townships who are responsible for maintenance, activation is completed by the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office dispatch and Greenwood County Emergency Management ensures that they are operational and notifies entities if there is an issue.) Vinson explained that no electronic confirmation is received when a siren is activated. To ensure these are operational, someone has to be present to hear whether a sound is emitted. He then noted that sirens do come with maintenance, and there are often issues/needs identified each year.
As Vinson explained how the sirens work, noting that (for this style of siren) both batteries and line voltage are needed for power, he shared that if fuses go out or there is an issue with the batteries, the siren will not operate. He noted that a majority of the time batteries are the cause of an issue and the city/owner or fire department can change them. He noted that other issues require a service company to address. Vinson recommended that, to preserve the life of siren batteries, battery posts be cleaned. He noted that this used to be something the city had historically done and noted that he believed this had stopped with turnover of staff. He noted that this wasn’t written in procedural documentation for the city; someone had just done this annually. While present, Kurtz also made council members aware of her concern that inspection is needed of bridges at the lake.
In committee reports, Council members Richard Drake and Jeff Marks convened for a Transportation Committee meeting with JEO Consulting Group about conditions of city streets. In addition to providing the company with some mapping clarification, JEO reviewed road conditions. Marks noted that this was not looking good, but they were still awaiting the final report. Coulter added that their report was nearing completion and it is anticipated for receipt soon.
He told members of the council that a special meeting may be held to discuss streets and afford for potential expedited start of street work. The option of chip and seal was noted as something being looked into for certain roadways.
Councilman Kevin Lawrence shared that he had attended the CDBG informational meeting in regards to the housing grant. This will be investing approximately $300,000 into existing structures within the community. Lawrence shared that the program representative present was impressed by the community turnout. Mayor Coulter noted that the meeting had been very educational and a lot of homes could potentially benefit from the funding. Work will be completed within a target area, which has yet to be selected. Council member Cinda Beals shared that once the city successfully moves through this process, Eureka will be eligible to get additional rounds of grant dollars, as long as requirements are met. Once an area has been selected and funds have been invested within these homes, the given area cannot be selected for application of these grant dollars in the future.
Laws shared that roughly 180 households had submitted interest to-date in the preapplication process. Once the official target area is selected, another application process will be conducted. Laws noted that, realistically, approximately 10-12 houses will directly benefit from the funding. The deadline for preapplication was May 1. Once this phase is concluded, area selection will be made. Laws noted that the city is trying to focus on use of local contractors for this. Contractor requirements have been received and will be put on the city website for public access.
During his regular report, Laws shared that bathrooms at the lake had been unlocked for the season. Laws reported that city representatives recently met with an engineer regarding the lake dam. The city will be receiving information back from the engineer, but no concerns were expressed during the assessment. It was shared that the engineer was slated to conduct additional research. Once received, the report will be available for public review.
Laws met with a representative from AAA Paving and Chip Seal regarding streets and the potential for chip and seal work. The city will be looking to bring streets which have been rated as being in fair condition to good condition status. Laws noted that this would be brought for continued discussion during the May 13 council meeting. If approved, work is slated to be completed by Memorial Day. One location noted for work was South Main Street, leading to the Eureka Aquatic Park. If the bid is approved, they will look to complete this prior to the opening of the pool for the season. Laws noted that with the funds budgeted, the city is looking at 360,000 square feet of work. The city will notify neighborhoods prior to work being completed in target areas and construction is anticipated to be completed quickly. Additional work is also slated to be completed in the fall.
The auction of city equipment no longer needed/utilized brought in $57,000. Laws brought to the floor for consideration the potential purchase of a lift, noting that this would be a great asset. Mayor Coulter added that a lift could be used when decorations and banners are hung on Main Street as well as during replacement of batteries in storm sirens. Coulter noted that accessing the siren with ladders is difficult and it is a sizeable battery to carry. After this was expressed as a safety issue, Councilman Marks noted that if this item were purchased, training would be needed. Associate Director of Public Works Joey Caylor noted that training is offered with the purchase. As officials reviewed units presented for potential purchase, the Genie machine being recommended, it was noted that the equipment sale had created more space for storage. Councilman Jason Brandt expressed concerns regarding the need for conditions of one of the city shop storage buildings to receive roof/wall repair. Brandt noted that he understood the equipment interest and the need for staff safety, but noted that this also needed to be addressed. When questions were posed in regards to cost of lease of such a machine, Caylor noted that one had been leased for a week last year for $1,600. Discussion was had in regards to reaching out to contractors to have this assessed/bid on. Mayor Coulter noted that the city had been recently made aware that more roofing material had blown off and this was slated to be addressed. As discussion turned back to the potential purchase of a lift, Lawrence noted a machine for consideration, sharing that a mini telehandler would be a versatile alternative. He added that this would cost more, but would also offer the option of use similar to that of a forklift. Laws noted that the lifts provided as options that evening may not be available in three weeks, if the council were to elect to research further. Beals expressed interest in looking at the city building needing repaired. Laws told officials that any of them wanting to take a look could contact him to visit the site. The subject of the potential lift purchase was tabled for the next meeting.
Recommendations for allocations of the Travel and Convention funds were presented and approved. Allocations are as follows: $1,800 to the PRCA rodeo, $1,500 to Top Hand Youth Rodeo, $4,000 to Chamber events (Eureka Days, Party in the Park and Christmas parade), $4,500 for fireworks, $500 to Field Trials, $1,200 to 4-H fair bouncy houses. This totals $13,500. These numbers were noted as being close to figures allocated last year. The estimated beginning balance before allocations (the budget) that is expected to be available is $22,000 total. It was noted that the Community Enrichment Manager could use some of these dollars for events, and some contingency had been left in the event dollars received are less than anticipated.
Following no objections, reappointments/appointments were approved as follows: Eureka Planning Commission: Eric Ruge, Jim Boone, Ben Fox and Brent Torrey. Eureka Board of Zoning Appeals: Ruge and Mandi Stapleford. City officers: City Administrator, Joel Laws; City Clerk, Renee Burk; Treasurer, Mary Hodgson; Fire Chief, Luke Westerman; Municipal Judge, Phyllis Webster; City Attorney, James Watson and Code Enforcement Officer/Building Inspector, Steve French.
Following the amendment of the Consent Agenda, to include the addition of a Purchase Order pertaining to insurance, council members approved this list. Items within this included: Minutes of the April 8 meeting, scheduled claims list for expenses due through April 22 in the amount of $84,568.52 and purchase order 729468 to JEO Consulting Group for the amount of $8,825.
A request for street closure was presented on behalf of The Gym. Council members approved the following closures for Friday, May 31: Main Street from 1st to third for a run and Main Street from 2nd to 1st Street for a dance to follow the run. This area will be closed from 6 – 11 p.m. It was noted that area businesses had been spoken to and no opposition was voiced.
Three executive sessions were held before the conclusion of last Monday evening’s meeting, with no action being taken following each one. The executive sessions were held as follows: 5 minutes for legal discussion pertaining to property acquisition, with members of the council, Laws, Watson and Burk remaining – after returning to open session, an additional 15 minutes were taken for the same subject, with the same people; 15-minutes for discussion of personnel with officials, Watson (in attendance for a portion of the session) Burk and Laws; a 20-minute executive session for legal discussion pertaining to contracts was held with Watson, Burk and Laws remaining.
The next regular meeting of the Eureka City Council will be held on Monday, April 29 at 9 a.m.
