During Tuesday morning’s meeting, the Brownwood City Council approved a bid in the amount of $344,020 from Storm Sirens Inc. to replace the City’s 12 storm sirens.

“We received a FEMA grant for storm sirens and that will be to completely replace the storm siren apparatus, electricity and software, for our 12 storm sirens across the City,” said City Manager Emily Crawford. “The bids went out and we received several responses to our bids. Today, the Council awarded that bid to Storm Sirens Inc. and this particular group utilizes the National Weather Service to set off the storm sirens so that we know they are set off appropriately based on weather conditions and based on the geography of where those sirens are to properly notify the public. We’re very pleased to be able to update all our storm sirens, they’re about 30 years old so they’ll be much more reliable and much more accurate. Again this will be paid for through a grant from FEMA and the work should be completed within the next two months.”

At the January 14, 2025, City Council meeting, the City Council accepted a grant award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) to replace the 12 aging storm sirens and all associated hardware and software.

The new system will include advanced technology and would no longer require a person to manually set off the sirens. The sirens would be activated by the National Weather Service for only the area that is in the path of the storm.

The 90/10 grant award of $368,542 is a 90% FEMA or $331,68.80 and 10% City or $36,584.20 match. The City is also eligible for up to $16,070 in project management costs, which will potentially lower the City’s match. Since this is a FEMA Hazard Mitigation grant, the City will have to cover the upfront cost of the project and will receive payment as the project progresses.

To ensure all federal procurement standards were met a formal bid process was conducted under guidance from TDEM, Horne our third-party compliance manager, and the Brownwood Purchasing Department. The City advertised for sealed bids and received six qualified bids ranging from $228,746.24 to $353,507.60.

Four of the bids were less expensive than Storm Sirens, but those all featured annual subscriptions, which Storm Sirens does not. Storm Sirens is also the company that originally installed Brownwood’s 12 sirens.

The new sirens will be placed at the same current locations, but provide an expanded coverage range.