Johnson County to apply for grant for storm sirens

Johnson County will apply for state grants to help fund storm sirens in rural areas and for generators in some county buildings.

The county had a goal of installing one siren a year for five years at a cost of about $25,000 each. One near Iowa Mennonite School should be done next week.

But the state has opened up hazard mitigation funds for sirens, and on Thursday the county's Board of Supervisors gave the OK to submit an application, said Dave Wilson, the county's emergency management coordinator.

Johnson County also will apply for a grant for an approximately $210,000 project to install backup generators in five county buildings, including the administration building and the courthouse, Wilson said. The county's share would be about $28,000, he said.

The siren project would cost an estimated $172,332 for six sirens, with the county's share at $25,850, Wilson said.

It's like “we'd be buying one to get six,” he said.

The six sites that have been identified for sirens are:

• By Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca near Coralville Lake
• The unincorporated village of Cosgrove
• The unincorporated village of Morse
• Near Sutliff Bridge
• The intersection of County Road F8W and Prairie Du Chien Road Northeast
• The intersection of Highway 965 and Trail Ridge Drive Northeast

The funding for the grants is 75 percent from the federal government, 10 percent from the state and 15 percent a local match, Wilson said.

He hopes to hear on the grant application by the end of the year, although he doesn't expect the money to be available until next summer.  The sirens could be installed by next fall, Wilson said.