FORNEY, Texas — The Forney City Council approved a project and related funding to replace the city's "non-functioning" Outdoor Warning Siren system during Tuesday night's regularly-scheduled council meeting.
FORNEY, Texas — The Forney City Council approved a project and related funding to replace the city's "non-functioning" Outdoor Warning Siren system during Tuesday night's regularly-scheduled council meeting.
The council had previously approved a request for proposals (RFP) to begin seeking bids to replace the city's current three-siren Outdoor Warning Siren with a "modern 21st Century Ground Warning Siren system capable of alerting all areas of the city limits."
The new proposed system, presented in an RFP by ATI Systems, calls for 11 strategically-placed 70db siren towers — replacing the city's three previous voice-and-tone sirens which estimated to cover only 10-to-15% of the city limits and were deemed "unreliable" and "non-functional" by city officials.
The council approved the purchase of the system from ATI Systems for a proposed total of $392,472.80 and carries, among other things, a five-year warranty.
According to council discussion on Tuesday night, 11 locations for the siren towers have been preliminarily identified in existing right-of-ways and would not require any land acquisition or land-use or lease agreements. The locations will be finalized after an acoustical survey is conducted to ensure the 70 db requirement is met. Should any additional towers need to be purchased, or land purchase or use agreements be needed, those items will be brought back to the council for approval.
The system, according to the RFP, will have dual manual activation points. The primary activation will be at the Forney Police Department's Dispatch Center and the secondary activation point will be at the Forney Fire Department's Station No. 2. Eventually, according to Deputy City Manager Neil Cardwell, the system will be integrated with iPAWS, FEMA, and NOAA alerts to allow for autonomous alerting.
"The system will also have sophisticated monitoring and testing ability’s, including silent testing," according to the council's agenda packet.
The approval and creation of a project fund also included a major infrastructure component to create a city-wide fiber optic communication ring. With council's approval, approximately $2.76 million in un-allocated General and Utility CIP funds were transferred to the project. Any balance remaining at the conclusion of the project would be transferred back to their respective funds, according to the agenda item.
Cardwell says the fiber ring will not only facilitate a secure and reliable Outdoor Warning Siren system, but the ring would also connect and support all other city assets, including the city's elevated water storage tanks, lift and pump stations, and fire and police facilities. Additionally, it will allow the city to install security cameras at their critical infrastructure sites and become compliant with upcoming regulations regarding SCADA and critical infrastructure security measures.
The fiber ring will also support the growth of the city's traffic department, according to Cardwell, as the city just installed its first city-owned, maintained, and controlled traffic signal at Gateway Boulevard and Akron Way. The fiber ring will allow for communication between the city-owned traffic signals for traffic timing, alerting, and other related issues — bringing communication between city assets from miles, to yards.
While the funds were transferred to the project fund based on previously obtained estimates, the city council will still need to release, review, and approve an eventual RFP for the fiber ring.
City staff estimates a total completion of all project parameters, including siren tower construction and fiber connectivity, at approximately 12 to 18 months.
