City will replace aging emergency sirens

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Rosemount’s emergency warning sirens should all be up to date by the end of this year.

The Rosemount City Council approved a bid Tuesday to replace five sirens around the city. The new sirens will replace signals that in most cases are 35 years old and in at least two cases are showing signs of age.

The new sirens, approved as part of the council’s consent agenda, will cost $73,900 and will include the relocation of one siren that cannot be accessed for repair in its current location.

The city of Rosemount had a three-year plan to replace its emergency sirens but better-than-expected costs the last two years have allowed the city to complete the replacement in two years.

Four of the sirens to be replaced date to 1975. According to police chief Gary Kalstabakken one of those sirens has failed this year and another, located at County Road 42 and Emery Avenue, is frozen and will not rotate the way it is supposed to. The newest of the sirens, installed in 1987, needs to be moved to allow easier maintenance and to provide better coverage for Rosemount residents.

“It is serving just as much in Apple Valley as it is in Rosemount,” Kalstabakken said at a city council work session last week.

Kalstabakken said the installation of the new sirens will also make things easier for the city when the Federal Communication Commission regulations require rebanding sirens in 2011.

The contract for the new sirens went to American Signal Corporation, the same company that handled last year’s siren replacement. They will be installed by Nelcom at a cost of $5,420 per siren.

Tags: local news, local government, news, rosemount