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New police department construction may begin my end of August
New Smithville Police Station

New police department construction may begin my end of August

By Angie meadows

The City of Smithville will soon have sirens to alert the community in the event of a tornado threat and construction will soon begin on the new police department.

During last Monday night’s monthly meeting, the aldermen awarded a bid to Capitol Electronics for a Federal Signal system. The cost is $71,497, and a one-time state grant coming to city will cover the purchase.

Smithville Fire Chief and DeKalb Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie Parker said two sirens will be installed including one on the city’s water tank near the high school on Highway 70 and the other at the city’s water tank on Miller Road. The system is capable of adding more sirens later if needed including the reactivation of a siren on top of city hall.

“With this system it is completely upgradeable. We are looking at placing two sirens including one at the water tank at the high school and a second one at the water tank on Miller Road. We may look at doing a little adjusting for better coverage. We considered placing a siren at the water tank by the airport but we will get really good coverage with the two sirens. I also talked to them about using the siren we have on top of city hall. We could probably have it upgraded for about $4,000. This is a turnkey system which has everything we need to get started. It is an automated system that originates from the National Weather Service and goes to another source which will send out the alert. The 911 Center, where the system is to be housed, will receive the alert and activate the sirens. The system will also automatically send out other text and tone alerts that we may utilize that would be beneficial not only to the city but the county and 911. The bid package includes training and an annual software upgrade; about $2,500 for the upgrade. The system is also expandable. If we need to add more sirens we can do that up to 10 sirens,” said Parker.

Mayor Josh Miller informed the aldermen that the architect and contractor are ready to move forward. Janice Plemmons-Jackson, the city’s financial advisor said the city has also earned an AA- bond rating because of its good financial position which will qualify for a lower interest rate for the project.

“Last Wednesday I met with the architect and the contractors and they are ready to get started. They are hoping to get started by the end of the month setting up with the equipment. They want to get everything dried in before winter. I think they are going to start selling bonds next Wednesday. We got an excellent bond rating,” said Mayor Miller.

“We got an AA-bond rating. I think the negatives were based on the unknown economy and what the impact might be from that but John Werner, Vice President of Cumberland Securities of Knoxville, our representative said this bond rating is excellent. To be an AA- I think is really good. It means we will get a better interest rate on our bond which is awesome,” said Jackson.

The Boyce Ballard Construction Company of Murfreesboro had the lowest bid at over $2.6 million for a total roofed area of 12,800 square feet which includes a 1,400 square foot sally port. The city has budgeted the full amount to be funded by a bond issue with a payout schedule over 20 years at a debt service payment the first year (2020-21) at $172,310 or less.