Kingfisher County commissioners tabled action Monday on a request to “partner” with the City of Kingfisher on a new storm warning system for the city.

The request was made by City Manager Jim Thomas during the county commissioners’ regular weekly meeting.

Board chairman Anthony Schwarz said the board of county commissioners would study the request.

District 2 Commissioner Mike Sparks inquired, “What do I tell Hennessey residents?” apparently referring to the possibility the county would apply county funds to a municipal project.

Thomas referred to a June 17 situation when Kingfisher storm sirens failed when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for parts of the county, including Kingfisher.

Andy Goddard, who has serviced the system for years, attended the meeting and discussed the problems with the current system.

‘The Current System Is Old’ Thomas said his investigation indicated that the old system was installed 60 years ago by Civil Defense when the Cold War was still ongoing.

“The big problem is that it’s old,” Thomas said.

Newer, more reliable systems have been developed in the interim, he added, suggesting a $50,000 contribution to help replace the sirens.

( Ed. note: Since Thomas addressed the county commission, the city received a quote for an updated activation system that will work with both the current sirens and a new system of sirens the city is seeking to purchase. More information on that activation system can be found in a related article on Page 1 of this edition.)

Emergency Management Director Ryan Deatherage reported that he submitted requests for federal grants totaling about $125,000 to replace the current system a year ago, but had received no response to the requests.

He also pointed out that the local emergency management office provides storm warning alerts via cell phones to local subscribers, adding that this service is provided at no cost to users.

Thomas recommended that local citizens take advantage of all available warning systems until the problem is solved.

Sheriff Aaron Pitts said in response to a question that Hennessey’s storm sirens worked properly in conjunction with the county emergency management office during the same storm period.

A page 1 item in the Times & Free Press Sunday, June 22, edition quoted Kingfisher Fire Chief Ryan Gibson on the matter this way: “We tried to activate them but they wouldn’t work. We didn’t know why then and we still don’t know.”

“Once it’s agreed to activate the sirens, it’s the duty of the fire department staff to do so as the activation system is housed there.

“Gibson was attending a class in Oklahoma City, but said he was on the phone with the fire station to ensure everything was done correctly.

“It was, he said, but the sirens didn’t work.

“The electric department inspected the sirens on Wednesday and each of them had power, Gibson said.

“Radios used to activate them were checked on Thursday. Gibson said they, too, were functioning properly.

“Gibson said the sirens themselves will now be checked out to see where the malfunction could have occurred.

“‘But the truth is, we may never know why they didn’t work,’ he said.

One thing is certain, Gibson added.

“‘They’re old,’ he said. ‘The system is old and if the electricity is out, we can’t activate them.”

“Although residents with Kingfisher Electric utilities did lose power as the storms made their way through, there was still electricity when the attempts were made to activate the sirens.

“In April 2024, not long after Gibson and Kingfisher County Emergency Management Director Deatherage took over their respective positions, they inspected the six sirens inside of city limits.

“‘One - located near the school’s track complex on 13th Street - worked properly. Another one, near the water tower in Meeker Addition, worked ‘halfway,’ according to Deatherage.

“But four didn’t work. They were located at the county fairgrounds, between Admire and Miles near Seventh Street (behind City Cafe), on the cellular tower at Pioneer Telephone headquarters (Robberts and Sixth) and near the city’s Street Department building near Bowman and Third.

“A contractor was hired to assess the sirens and determined which sirens could be repaired and also provided an estimate for a new system. The price tag was more than $200,000.”

Thomas recommended an education program for city residents to make them more aware of the situation and how to protect themselves.

He pointed out that cities and other local governments are required to operate under balanced budgets, unlike the federal government, noting the problem replacing the storm warning system with already budgeted city funds would create.

Thomas said replacing the old system is vital because not everyone has a smart phone to receive warning notices.

Thomas said Mayor Geoff Covalt was unable to attend the meeting with him because of job responsibilities.

Other Meeting Actions

During the early portion of the meeting county commissioners acted on the following agenda items:

• Approved service contracts between the assessor’s office and law firms, Tisdale and O’Hara and Bass Law, related to tax protest litigation;

• Approved a resolution authorizing a list of outdated computer equipment in the court clerk’s to be declared surplus;

• Authorized county asphalt road application contracts to proceed, and,

• Approved two pipeline crossings of county roads for Ovintiv Energy, one in District 1 – a three-inch poly line, located seven miles east and two miles north of Okarche – and the other a 16-inch lay-flat line in District 3 located one mile west and one mile north of Loyal.

Present for the meeting in addition to commissioners – Schwarz, District 3, chairman; Jeff Moss, District 1, vice-chairman, and Sparks, District 2 – and Thomas were County Clerk Emily Lee, official minute clerk; Sheriff Pitts; County Engineer Nik Smith; Deatherage, and citizen visitor Kelly Buck.