The Siren Board

Well, if they lose the grant money then nothing is getting upgraded.

As for the codespear that shares the same problem as other phone based systems, high cost of upkeep for something that isn't that great.

It makes one wonder when the facts are presented and they still choose to go along with the politics. Are these people robots? If these people were replaced by computers it would then be a simple decision based on logic.

Politics in an inevitable part of the process and it's totally unrealistic not to acknowledge it. Politicians hear pleas based on "People's lives are at stake" every week for issues as diverse as siren systems to school buses.

Make it possible for the county commissioners to do the right thing and look good doing it. Propose RFP specs that are honest and realistic; try to get the cost per square mile into the specs in this way. Get persuasive experts to educate the decision makers. If 60 ASC sirens will do what it would take 140 Federal sirens to do, back it up.

You will find it difficult to force the county to do the right thing. You've got to sell them on it.

As to media, talk about how much more effective and cost-effective your solution is. Challenge the Federal guys to erect one of their sirens next to one of yours at a suitable spot; the winner of the challenge gets paid for his installation.

Actually in 2002 ASC did a survey of the county and in 2007 they had a design build type of bid and ASC was low and it was thrown out as funding was not there. In 2009 there was a bid in August and it was pointed out that ASC's range was better and they threw out that bid due to Federal did not meet specs on several levels and one was ANSI testing. The third bid everything was removed that made Werden low and again Werden Electric was low bid. That was thrown out and the fourth bid was discussed in commissioners staff meeting and Werden spelled out reasons Federal still does not meet specs and the day before the bids were due a 45 page addendum came out and basically said we want Federal. The commissioners are being fed a line of Bull about what codespear can and cannot do. The specs were so biased towards Federal that Hamilton County will get rid of all Compulert decoders (185) and 8 Central stations. They are not going to upgrade the DC only sirens but replace them. Also They will need twice as many sirens to do what can be done with 60 to 85 ASC sirens. Federal will need to supply 140 to 160 sirens. My calculations say the county is wasting $1,750,000.00 and are flushing that down the toilet

I came up with a figure close to that. I estimated about 1.9 million. Sad that they can't see. I'm guessing they will be even more upset that Federal will not meet the specs of the 4th bid. What a circus of bull.

EMA took all specs out of the bid and said that they want the Federal 2001-130, T-128, Whelen V3. Therefore those meet specs and to hell with everything else. They also said all RTU's will be new therefore disposing of all 185 RTU's that are working fine.

It's Whelen. Not Whalen.

Don't take this the wrong way, but how many normal citizens would really care about the siren system being upgraded to Federal 2001s?

Probably not many. However I would think they should care if the county wastes 1.7 million.

Now that I think about it, wouldn't the county be blowing money no matter which company they went with? It doesn't seem too many of the residents in Hamilton County (siren enthusiasts not included) care what sirens the county goes with.

All they need to do Is buy the siren heads,batteries, cabinets and upgrade the RTU's. They don't need to replace the RTU's hell a good deal of them are new. The 2001s are a joke and so is Federals Codespear system. We will have a malfunctioning siren system just like Indianapolis has now. Bary Lusby has brought his corruption across the river from Covington. I'm betting he has secured a position with Federal Signal if he ever steps down from the EMA.