Outdoor warning sirens in Newton to be analyzed by city staff

Some outdoor warning sirens in Newton caused problems this past year when they failed to activate before a storm hit the community, and as a result the city council made it a goal in 2022-2024 for staff to take a closer look at the system to ensure that same error does not happen again.

Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler said three of the sirens are currently powered by solar, but staff is looking at hard wiring them. The city is also looking at the number of sirens. Either way, the city wants to conduct a full assessment of the warning sirens system in Newton before it goes out and spends a large amount of money.

Muckler said, “What’s the best plan moving forward? We’ve got new subdivisions that are being constructed. Are we covering those folks? There have been a lot of excavation up in the northeast part of town where we moved a lot of dirt, created some hills. Where’s the best place to place these?”

The goal is expressly stated in the “less than $20,000 funding required” category of the city council goals list as a staff analysis. Muckler stressed the goal is not necessarily about installing new equipment, but rather taking a more serious look at the sirens, their current impact and how the city can improve them.

The solar-powered warning sirens in Newton were not operating at their full capacity, Muckler said. Some citizens could hear them, he added, but they would not be as loud. From what Muckler can tell, the city may not need nine sirens but could probably get by with six to eight if they were placed in the right areas.

Four sirens did not activate back in early March, meaning there were some areas of town where some citizens did not hear them go off. Although there were no fatalities in Jasper County as a result of the storm, the storm did cause the deaths of six people in Winterset and one person in Chariton.

Officials at the time said a communications system upgrade and an installation of new radio consoles caused some sirens not to activate in a test a few days before the storm hit. The unresponsive sirens needed to be re-programmed by a vendor. The city then sent the corrected program to the sheriff’s office.

In a statement to local and regional media, the City of Newton explained the sheriff’s office is the primary agency tasked with activating the sirens during testing and real weather events. The sheriff’s office is also responsible for programming or radio issues.

However, the severe weather on March 5 occurred prior to the vendor who conducts the programming could fix the issue.

The sirens that did not activate during the test also did not activate during the storm. All outdoor sirens within Jasper County are owned by their respective incorporated cities. Which also means those cities are responsible for all repairs and maintenance. The vendor corrected the issue two days after the storm.